Mrs B, our son, DIL and myself just got back from Alaska a couple of weeks ago. Man what a trip, you can watch a thousand shows about Alaska and marvel at the beauty but nothing can compare to seeing it in person. The scope and depth of the landscape is amazing.
We got up Sunday (Sept 18th) at 5 in the morning and headed to Charlotte to catch our flight at 09:35 for Seattle. The 5.5 hour flight was non-stop and uneventful. We we're picked up at the Seattle Airport and delivered to the Norwegian ship Encore.
Over the course of the next week we visited Juneau, Icy Straight Point, Glacier Bay and Ketchikan, Alaska. On Saturday the 24th we visited Victoria, British Columbia. This was a great trip but exhausting. Mrs B wore her fit bit and we averaged nearly 6 miles a day walking around. On the day we left (the 25th) we logged 9.41 miles walking around Seattle.
THE GOOD: The ship was outstanding. Plenty to do, amazing crew, and great food. Visiting the stops was great, a little cool (highs around 55-58) which wasn't terrible but we had just left 90 degree weather. We were prepared for it as our travel agent had told us to take some warm clothes.
The shore excursions were plentiful and quite entertaining but expensive. We opted for the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show and an airlift gondola ride to the top of a mountain. Did l mention that all of these excursions were expensive?
We walked around Juneau, Victoria and Seattle and did our own thing. On board the ship there were numerous things to do. We attended 2 comedy shows, 1 musical and played numerous games and participated in numerous other activities from trivia contests to origami classes to sudoku contests to cooking classes to cupcake decorating to go cart racing and of course plenty of drinking where different music artists were playing at nearly every venue every night.
THE BAD: We had to be off of the ship by 9 a.m. Sunday the 25th. The problem with that was that our flight out wasn't until 11:47 p.m. We then had to fly to Chicago where we then had a 3 hour layover. We had maybe 5 - 6 hours sleep combined Saturday and Sunday. There just wasn't time to take in everything during the cruise.
THE UGLY: The lead up to air travel (the actual flights were fine) was a real pain in the ass. Long lines, going through TSA checkpoints, taking off shoes and belts, jumping through this hoop and that hoop. Pulling out passports at this place, ID cards at others. Not much rhyme and reason to any of it. Mrs B went through the Charlotte and Chicago TSA with no issues, at the Seattle airport the metal detector went off and she ended up getting quite the physical exam from the female TSA agent. (she has metal in her body in several places.)
I expected things to be expensive in Alaska and they were. Victoria and Seattle were also very expensive. I will post some pictures in the coming days.
We got up Sunday (Sept 18th) at 5 in the morning and headed to Charlotte to catch our flight at 09:35 for Seattle. The 5.5 hour flight was non-stop and uneventful. We we're picked up at the Seattle Airport and delivered to the Norwegian ship Encore.
Over the course of the next week we visited Juneau, Icy Straight Point, Glacier Bay and Ketchikan, Alaska. On Saturday the 24th we visited Victoria, British Columbia. This was a great trip but exhausting. Mrs B wore her fit bit and we averaged nearly 6 miles a day walking around. On the day we left (the 25th) we logged 9.41 miles walking around Seattle.
THE GOOD: The ship was outstanding. Plenty to do, amazing crew, and great food. Visiting the stops was great, a little cool (highs around 55-58) which wasn't terrible but we had just left 90 degree weather. We were prepared for it as our travel agent had told us to take some warm clothes.
The shore excursions were plentiful and quite entertaining but expensive. We opted for the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show and an airlift gondola ride to the top of a mountain. Did l mention that all of these excursions were expensive?
We walked around Juneau, Victoria and Seattle and did our own thing. On board the ship there were numerous things to do. We attended 2 comedy shows, 1 musical and played numerous games and participated in numerous other activities from trivia contests to origami classes to sudoku contests to cooking classes to cupcake decorating to go cart racing and of course plenty of drinking where different music artists were playing at nearly every venue every night.
THE BAD: We had to be off of the ship by 9 a.m. Sunday the 25th. The problem with that was that our flight out wasn't until 11:47 p.m. We then had to fly to Chicago where we then had a 3 hour layover. We had maybe 5 - 6 hours sleep combined Saturday and Sunday. There just wasn't time to take in everything during the cruise.
THE UGLY: The lead up to air travel (the actual flights were fine) was a real pain in the ass. Long lines, going through TSA checkpoints, taking off shoes and belts, jumping through this hoop and that hoop. Pulling out passports at this place, ID cards at others. Not much rhyme and reason to any of it. Mrs B went through the Charlotte and Chicago TSA with no issues, at the Seattle airport the metal detector went off and she ended up getting quite the physical exam from the female TSA agent. (she has metal in her body in several places.)
I expected things to be expensive in Alaska and they were. Victoria and Seattle were also very expensive. I will post some pictures in the coming days.
