Ketchikan Adventure

Today in Ketchikan we went on the Flight-Seeing and Crab Feast excursion where we took a bus to the George Inlet Lodge for some spectacular fresh crab and a delicious cheese cake.   The crab was incredible!  Then after lunch we flew back to Ketchikan in a float plane.  The scenery was amazing of course and the whole experience was very memorable.  I highly recommend this excursion for it’s great crab feast and the plane ride.  After the excursion we walked around Ketchikan and some of the shops.  We rented an electric car and tooled around town.  As a ship buff the I was in my element as we watched the Westerdam depart and the Statendam took it’s place, then the Norwegian Pearl was docked just ahead of our ship the Seven Seas Mariner.  After the Norwegian Pearl left, the Mercury with Celebrity Cruises docked.  A great day for ship spotting.

A snapshot of the Inside Passage

Today we are cruising the Inside Passage on our way to Ketchikan.  The sea is calm today, and the temp is around 60 degrees.  It was such a long day when we got up in Minneapolis at 6am and flew to Vancouver.  It was a fun day, but we ended up going to bed at 9:30pm because we were beat.  Of course because of the time different for us it was actually 11:30pm.  Dinner last night in the Compass Rose Restaurant was excellent!  The wait staff were perfect, as they greeted us, brought us to our table by the window, and gave us just the right amount of attention. 

My wife and I both had the fish, which was Alaska Rock Fish, kind of like a cod.  The breads were yummy…we must lay off the breads since we are watching our waistline during this cruise. Jacob had the pizza and enjoyed every bite.  We decided to order breakfast in our suite this morning.  We had scrambled eggs, juice and toast.  Before the breakfast arrived, however, I took Jacob down to the spa and we steamed and sat in the sauna, then went 

up to deck 11 to sit in the Jacuzzi and swim in the pool.  I must say that the pool was very nice. I thought the pool would be cold, but it was a nice temp.  After a little swim, Jacob and I went back to our suite and had our breakfast.

We introduced Jacob to the youth program this morning at 9:30. There are about 50 kids onboard that are between 6 and 8 years old, so Jacob should have fun making friends.  Terri and I are participating in somewhat of a challenge during this cruise to see if we can maintain or lose weight, so we weighed-in at about 11:00am this morning with the fitness person.

As my wife and I were walking around the ship this morning we noticed something very strange…it was very quiet everywhere we went.  There were very few planned activities. We did come across a cruise staff person hosting some sort of game with a handful of passengers, where they would throw some sort of dart at a net.  The observation lounge had about 30 people just sitting around quietly talking.  This morning the ship was buzzing, however with a lot of people exercising in the gym and walking around the decks.       

It will really be interesting to experience this cruise to Alaska.  All of the other cruises we have been on went to 

warm-weather destinations in the Caribbean and Mexico.  I’ve cruised all over, but never to Alaska.  Oh, I saw my first wale while cruising thru the Inside Passage...the scenery is absolutely beautiful!

  

It's Departure day!

Here's our ship the Regent Seven Seas Mariner...It's departure Day!  I went into the hotel on 8th level to take a picture of the Mariner.  The Volendam with Holland America is also in the pier near us.  I took some pictures of the Volendam too. Looks like a beautiful day to depart from Vancouver. Weather is not too cool, a little cloudy, but not bad. Embarkation was really simple.  In fact we registered onboard in the main show lounge to get our room key.  We had a little snack on deck 11 by the pool immediately upon boarding the ship.  We didn't have access to our suite until about 2:30pm.  First impressions are that the ship is very nice.  There are indeed a lot of children onboard, so it will be interesting to see how much Jacob enjoys the children's programs.  We just completed boat drill, and now we are about to depart...so I better get up on deck!

About Cruise Reality

It is a challenge to continually come up with new ideas and ways to keep our listeners and fans of Cruising Authority engaged and interested in what we are doing. We have almost reached a milestone with the Cruising Authority talkshow with nearly one hundred shows! It's June 16th and tomorrow my family will fly to Vancouver to board the luxurious Regent Seven Seas Mariner to Alaska. It's going to be an adventure and I'll be sure to keep you posted here on the blog to let you know how the cruise is coming along AND how Terri and I are doing with our "CHALLENGE". If you don't know about the "Challenge", watch the preview video on our website at http://www.cruisereality.com/

This is the Seven Seas Mariner in Alaska, it looks like a beautiful ship, and I can't wait to see the glaciers and the beauty of Alaska! I also can't wait to board this ship, which I have heard and read that she is a a classy ship. My family will also be in a Penthouse Suite...of course the Mariner is an All Suite ship, one of the first ever built. Stay tuned here, subscribe to this blog and my wife's blog at: http://www.dreamvacationscruise.com/blog/ and follow us on this journey, this grand voyage aboard the luxurious Seven Seas Mariner! I'll try to post photos along the way. This is all going to be somewhat new to me as I will be recording bits for Cruising Authority, and creating video segments, I'll be blogging, maybe "Twittering" at: http://twitter.com/cruisetalkshow so I have a full plate as I also try and enjoy the cruise.