CRUISE DAY – Day 1 – LET’S HEAD NORTH
We got up early the next morning, I ordered our breakfast from McDonald’s via UberEats. We finished breakfast, got all the bags ready and headed down to the lobby to meet our ride. We are early boarder’s when we cruise – can’t wait to get it started, so waking this crew up early was no chore.
Waiting, looking around, outside with all of our luggage – Ok where is our driver (pre-arranged transportation before we left home)? He should be here by now. Penni’s phone rang, the driver says; “I am here.” We were like where? “We are standing at the front of the hotel and we do not see you “. Ok, I am at a different hotel, I will be there in a few minutes. We wait and wait, another phone call. He is at the wrong hotel again. He eventually makes it and we pack Eight suitcases and a few carry-on sized bags into the 12-passenger van and head downtown to the Cruise Port.
That’s right downtown. The ship is docked on Alaska Way as the terminal is downtown next to a major highway. Traffic is horrible. The driver makes a U-turn and finds a convenient spot to let us out and we find a porter quickly to take our bags. Seattle porters working for the cruise lines here are a little different (maybe Union – not sure) but do not accept Tips. And while I agree that they earn any tips from most ports where we pay – it was nice to not have to budget for that here – especially with our big group and so many pieces of luggage.
Check in is pretty much a breeze. Kelsi and Penni had pooled their money together and pre-purchased a picture package for 20 pictures to be taken while on the BLISS. They had bough us all matching ALASKA Shirts that we wore for Embarkation and our first picture was made as we were boarding the ship. Turned out great (also our 20-picture package came with a surprise bonus when we were selecting which pictures at the end of the trip – because we pre-purchased we got 3 extra – so 23 – this turned out to be a GREAT DEAL – again – something I wish Carnival would adopt.
Within 30 minutes we were stepping onto the ship and immediately looking for the reservation kiosk. Penni knew if we wanted to do the extra things like Go-Carts and Laser Tag, that we had to make reservations as soon as you board the ship (unfortunately you cannot make these online before boarding the ship). Not the most relaxing way to start a cruise, but needed to be done, so here we are. They have kiosks at most of the elevators where you can do this. We made reservations for go-carts and laser tag and the comedy show, after walking down a couple of flights to deck Five, to escape the large crowds on the embarkation deck.
Christian and Kayna could not wait to go swimming so immediately after lunch at a little pub called “The Local”, (think Applebee style). We sat down at a table for six and began to look at the menu. It was very limited, appetizers, hamburgers, sandwiches and such. Penni reaches for her backpack purse and finds it is missing. She panics, and heads back to the kiosk, thankfully, in a few minutes she returns with purse in hand. Tragedy averted.
We head to our room which was now ready on Deck 12. Luckily, our room was directly behind the elevators so it was a short walk. A quick change into swimsuits and Penni, Kayna and Christian headed to the pool and slides. It was a little to cool and breezy for me to even think about getting in the water (ok – insert from Penni here – who is he kidding? Have you read our blogs before – he doesn’t do Water (ocean, pool) any more – lol).
We left the pool and went back to the rooms and got ready for dinner. Christian loves to get decked out for dinner on a cruise ship. He had a different tie for each night. We headed to the Manhattan Dining room for dinner. No scheduled dining time, but to get in efficiently without a long wait, you could reserve times online and Penni had made several reservations months ago for us – thank goodness (1st 2nd and 6th nights). We had a different table and servers each night. We did not like this, we like to get to know our servers (we like the Dining experience on Carnival and Princess in the Main Dining Room). The food was mediocre at best. This would get no better, the worst dining room food of any cruise.
We stopped by the comedy club but it was packed and the guy was not that good so we all decided to turn in for the night.
Day 2
Sea Day – Nice and Sunny, but a little chilly
We are not late sleepers. We were up early and headed to the “Taste” Dining Room for breakfast. We ate a decent breakfast and headed to the Go-Cart track for a 10:00 a.m. reservation. They were running doubles at this timeframe and Christian wanted to ride with Donnell. The kids get all the safety gear and head to the entrance. The attendant asked them how old they are. Donnell, 20, Kelsi 19, Kayna 15, Christian 9. Sorry you cannot ride doubles unless you are 21. I will not even fit in one of these cars, so it is up to Nana to ride with Christian. Funny thing, Christian can ride one by his self if he wants to, but can’t ride with Donnell because Donnell is not 21, crazy rule and crazy for them not to check that out when they arrived, not after they had waited and about to get in the cars. I did not have the right kind of shoes on (closed toe and heel – tennis shoes basically, because I had not planned on riding. So I had to quickly scramble back to the room, get my shoes and get back, rushed, in line with Christian – we made it, whew!). Christian and I really had fun – on the track, going around the top of one end of the ship – but of course I kept hearing “Nana, you are going too slow” – haha, well, I wasn’t even supposed to be the one having to drive him – so I say he was lucky, I was willing.
Back to “The Local” for lunch, they had really good wings, and a good chicken salad. The two Swimmers (Kayna and Christian) and Nana head back to the pool, I go with them to watch. It was too cool for me on that windy deck out of the water so I went back to the room. Kelsi and Donnell went exploring the ship and played putt-putt. Kayna was beginning to get a little head cold and kept sniffling but otherwise felt fine.
Dinner again was in the Manhattan Room Dining Room, and the theme of the night became Kayna’s need for several “paper napkins” for her nose and not the nice linen one that goes in our lap. It had turned into a dripping faucet (although she felt fine – and I got her some over the counter cold and sinus meds). After another mediocre dinner the group went to Laser Tag without me.
** One dinner note – When we were deciding on Dessert after dinner, Donnell decided that “Apple Pie with Ice Cream” was just what he wanted. He was so hyped up about how good it was going to be. When they brought it – it jiggled like Jello – it was Cold, and looked like it had Sure Jel inside and hard almost raw apples with a dollop of IceCream on top – needless to say, after a bite or so – it just sat there. Worst Apple Pie Award, for sure – we joked about that pie at dessert every night after. For some reason, we couldn’t convince him to try it again – I have no idea why.
Laser Tag was on deck 20 Forward. Penni went with them to check them in for Laser Tag. There was a long line, so Penni asked a worker where they would come out when the game ended. He told her in broken English, Deck 15. Penni proceeded to deck 15 and found out there was no way this is where they would come out. She found a crew member and asked them where Laser Tag finished and they said on deck 20 where they went in. When she got back to 20 about 30 minutes later they were just about to begin playing. (Yes, it is a huge ship and I was very TIRED at the end of a long day that began with a scramble with Go-Carts, so not amused at having to climb steps again just because someone gave me bad information). Kids loved Laser Tag though – but no other reservation times were available for them to try it again during the week. Glad they got this one time.
Day 3
Juneau AK
Row, Row, Row Your Boat and Look Out for that Whale !
We were up early as usual but we would not dock until the afternoon. We decided to do the buffet for breakfast. We all found something we would eat. I went to the egg station and got a couple of fried eggs, some bacon and sausage. I have no clue what everyone else had, but we all ate. Nana and Christian played some cool, windy putt putt.
All our reservations for fun things are used up, so we went to the Library – Game Room and played board games until lunch time. We had lunch at the buffet, I found a table outside and waited, but no one joined me, so I finished my food and went back in and found them. Kelsi called us from our room and said we needed to get there right now. Some kind of emergency? No, she was watching float planes take off.
We finally docked around 2:30 in Junea, AK (our first Alaskan port) and left the ship. They did not have camera people on the dock taking destination photos, which was a little disappointing as we usually buy those. We found a shuttle bus to take us to excursion central where we found our tour guides. This is the only port where we would split up our Shore Excursions. Kelsi and Donnell wanted to go to Kayaking in the Glacier Lake and Penni, Kayna, Christian and I were going Whale Watching. Our tour left at 3:30 and Kelsi and Donnell left at 4:00 p.m. The four of us loaded our bus and waited, and waited, and finally we head out to Mendenhall Glacier.
We got off the bus and walked around for an hour or so, taking photos, climbing on rocks, resting etc. Now it was time to head back to the bus stop and catch the bus to the dock where we would board the Whale Watching boat. (Penni – I am developing a nasty cough by this time and not feeling the best. I’m trying not to cough near people and be very aware of not spreading any germs. I’m keeping a water with me because that fortunately is helping some – Kayna must have shared her cold with me: honestly, I believe we probably both picked it up in the Chicago airport or on the plane).
The Whale watching boat is designed for this activity, there is a porch area for standing and watching once you find whales, there is also a back porch for the same thing. You can also climb on the roof to watch. The inside is kind of like a school bus with rows of seats on each side. There is a front door and back door to the passenger compartment.
Everyone has to sit while you go out into the bay to look for whales. Once they are spotted the doors are open and you can get up, go out and look or take pictures. We were about 30 minutes out when they spotted Orcas. They say this is rare for this area, we are not sure how many, but there were at least two. We spent several minutes watching them. We traveled pretty fast with the doors open part of the time and the passenger compartment became a wind tunnel and was very chilly.
After following the Orcas for a while, we went to a different area to see a humpback whale. The last whale watching trip we took we did not see Orcas, but we saw three humpbacks breech and I understand that is a rare sight. We just saw this humpback blow and dive with its tail in the air. They are still marvelous creatures and a thrill to watch – the kids loved this adventure!
We returned to the ship and had a late dinner. We called it a night and looked forward to the next day. Kayna was looking forward to this next day especially because there were puppies involved. More cold medicine for us all and a pretty good night’s sleep – we love sleeping on a cruise!
Day 4
Skagway
DOG SLED TRAINING GROUND for the IDITAROD
We slept in this morning because Penni and Donnell are under the weather. We ate breakfast and lunch and then headed ashore in the afternoon. We walked from the cruise ship, following directions and found someone with our excursion company sign a little way up the road, and they told us we had come too far, we had to go back to the red building and find our guy.
We finally find the “check in” guy and he looks very unkept. His hair looked like it had not been washed in months. This was our bus driver. We drove out of town and finally turned down a dirt road. We drove on this dirt road for miles and came upon a big clearing. The driver parks the bus and we all get off. There are people who have finished their earlier tour, waiting to get on the bus.
We walk across a wooden bridge and there was a public restroom, and a store café combination. In front of the store was a Mercedes military style vehicle with seats on the back.
They packed all of us on the truck and we began the drive up the mountain on narrow dirt roads. It for sure was a little scary, especially for Penni who hates heights. We finally reach the spot we are looking for.
This is back country coastal Alaska, and just beautiful. There are 4 or 5 dog teams attached to sleds with wheels on them. There are seats for 6 people on the sled plus the driver on the back. Each dog team was composed of 14 or 15 dogs. There was lots of barking. We load up and these amazing dogs pull us down the trail and then back. Very fun adventure and all the grands, young and old were loving it.
When we get back, Christian and Kayna get to pet the dogs, they were in heaven. Kayna loves dogs.
Back down the mountain, we stop for a scenic overlook and take some photos. Then we make our way back down to the store. This is what Kayna has been looking forward to, “puppy time”. We had to listen to a brief talk about mushing, and then they brought out the puppies. The smile on my baby girl’s face as she cuddled the puppies was priceless. Christian enjoyed it also.
Back on the bus and back to the ship. The guide explained that they count the puppies after each group of tourists leave because one day a lady snuck a puppy out and onto the bus and got it all the way back to the cruise ship before being caught. The puppy told her; “he did not want to run,” So, she decided to rescue it. There was another story about a family who refused to ride the sled because they thought the dogs were mistreated. You hear it all, when you travel.
Just a note: Alaskan Sled Dogs are not normally of the husky’s variety, they look more like mutts, but they are not, they are special breed for this job and they love to run and pull a sled.
Day 5
Glacier Bay
The COLD WON (but not the weather)
This was another ship day, we did the buffet for breakfast, then we played games again, but in a different location. We wandered around the ship, played some of the ship games like trivia and also spent a little time in the Arcade since we could not book GO CARTS or LASER TAG.
All the while the ship is making its way to the Margerie and Grand Pacific Glaciers, the Margerie is often seen on TV show about the glaciers in Glacier Bay, We have seen this glacier calve other times we were here, but unfortunately not this time. The Grand Pacific looks like a pile of dirty ice because of the debris it has collected on its journey. Glaciers are composed of compressed snow that fell up stream years ago. They pick up mud, dirt and debris on their journey. The ice has a deep blue color in certain places because of captured UV rays.
The captain will maneuver the ship in such a way that allows passengers on one side to get a nice long view of the glacier, then he begins to turn the ship with the thrusters so passengers on the other side get the same view. Normally it is very cold at the face of the glacier, but this year it was very nice as we sat on our balcony and observed the glacier.
We noticed a small sail boat following us to the glacier, that must be a spectacular view from a small ship, but that would also be a bit scary when there is a lot of ice in the water. This time we did not see any sea otters playing on the ice.
We stopped by the John Hopkins Glacier on our way out of the bay and both sides of the ship had ample opportunity to get a good view of the glaciers.
** Cold update – by now Kayna is a little better, but not much, Dennis does not feel well today with a slight runny nose and sinus headache, maybe a low temp. I was feeling worse and cough was rough this morning – I watched much of the Glacier from the bed since it was right by our balcony and I had seen it several times before, and just rested for a while. Donnell is developing symptoms now and borrows our cold medicine – time to make another trip to the onboard store and buy another pack.
Now it is time for lunch and we decided to do the buffet for lunch.
We went to the atrium to see what was going on and they announced an upcoming game, 55 to Stay Alive, similar to Minute to Win it. Christian said “I want to play”, and I said I am not playing because I don’t want to embarrass myself. Penni said “not me.” So, he went to Kelsi and she agreed to sign up with him. He is putting us all in shock, because he is usually a shy kid.
They start the game and they call up a couple of people and give them a strange task to do, like blowing cups off the table with a straw. Then they call Christian, his task, to knock cups off the table using a rubber band. The problem is he is barely 9 years old and he does not know how to shoot a rubber band off his finger. The Host helped him win his game and he is off to the semifinals. Then they call Kelsi, she makes her way up front and finds out what her task is. She is supposed to have a banana swinging from her waist and use it to knock an orange into a hula-hoop. Only, they tie a panty hose with an apple in it around her waste and she is supposed to hit the orange and knock it in the hula-hoop, no way this is going to work and she does not move on to the semi-final. It was hilarious to watch both of them though – loved that they were a part of the entertainment, makes it so much more fun to watch!
Christian does not completely understand the final challenge, which is to take selfies with as many people as you can in one minute, so he does not win, but they give him a nice water bottle for playing. I think he really had fun.
Dinner in the Manhattan Dining room, I was not feeling well, and the menu looked terrible. I ordered Tilapia and it was not good. I ate and left the family at the Dining Room and went back to the room and went to sleep. (Penni – Kelsi, Donnell and I had the best dessert of the cruise on this night though – we tried the Banana Souffle – I admit, it sounded a little strange, although I do love the Vanilla Souffle on Carnival and Princess, so decided to try it. It was so yummy and the flavor was like real -old fashioned Banana Pudding (yeah, you know the kind your grandmother used to make). I wish I had ordered two! Sleep came easily tonight – we are all tired. It’s been a fun, but long week.
Day 6
Ketchikan
We Got Lumberjacks – and shopping
We were up early and had breakfast in the buffet, I mainly ate cereal, still not feeling well. We had a short day in Ketchikan. We had tickets for the lumber jack show. It is a short walk from the dock, we enjoyed the show and headed back to the ship. The kids did some shopping and Penni and I headed back. We were all back on board for lunch at the buffet around 12:30 p.m.
The rest of the day was sea day, the kids went swimming, and soaking in the Hot Tub was nice today, then explored the ship more. Penni went to the handicap restroom and the door was automatic, it opened but she could not get to close. Donnell tried to help, but he could not get it to close either. Of course, Donnell goes to the next handicap restroom later to prove to me, the door really does close – and it does – lol – ok, so yes, I am technically challenged, sometimes.
Tonight’s Dinner was in the Savor Dining room, but it was nothing special either.
Day 7
Victoria – O’ CANADA!
We had a long sea day exploring the ship and one more time in the hot tubs and on the water slides. Christian loved the raft slide (wish Carnival had one of those). Donnell and Kelsi finally decided to try the Plunge Drop Slide (you stand up with your feet crossed and arms crossed and the floor drops out from under you as you begin your loopty loop slide adventure. Some people get stuck at a certain point and they have a lifeguard there with a trap door to get you out immediately, but they did not get stuck and made it through successfully!
We had to pack all our luggage and have it outside the door before 11:00 p.m. They did not leave us luggage tags, like Princess and Carnival do, we had to go to guest services to get them. Our luggage tag number meant that we had to be off the ship by 8:30 a.m. the next morning.
We had an early dinner and around 7:00 p.m. were able to go ashore in Victoria. We hailed a taxi and rode to the destination where we took a carriage ride around the city. Christian was a little monster on this trip, he wanted to lay on everyone, and just be a pest. It was late in the evening, and I think he was tired and 8 days was long time to be away from his mommy. We had a good time though. We hailed, literally hailed, another cab to take us back to the ship. Shopping in Canada for souvenir’s and shirts, and before long, back on the ship, we were all ready for bed.
Day 8
Seattle
Hey, Throw Me a Fish
We arrived back in Seattle early today, and since we had to be off by 8:30 am we gathered our carry on and headed out. In the terminal we collected our luggage, all 9 bags. 2 plus bags each and headed to customs. No problems here. All we have to do now is walk across the street and down the block to our hotel. (Penni – Marriott Waterside Downtown is literally right across the street from the Cruise terminal with great, easy access to the road at the top of the hill that leads to Pike’s Market via a public elevator. Booking this hotel was a no-brainer as we are loyal Marriott members, and proved to be the perfect choice – very much recommended. Loved it).
We got checked in, 6 people, one hotel room, crowded! (Kelsi and Donnell decided to stay the extra day with us in Seattle kind of last minute and I was not willing to change hotels for 2 rooms, so we made do – it was one night, we managed). Donnell slept in a chair. We walked to Pike’s Market to this bakery shop we knew about; the last time we were here they had the best-looking cinnamon rolls I have ever seen. They did not have them, they had some apple cinnamon roll. We bought those, but they were a disappointment.
Back to the hotel for a while. We hailed an Uber and then to lunch in Pike’s Market, Lowell’s Restaurant. We ordered at the counter and then walked up stairs 2 flights to the third floor to find a table. Lunch was good. We walked through Pike’s Market and watched them throw the fish. I wish we had something similar to this near us, as the quality and size of the fish and seafood look amazing. We then decided to buy tickets to WINGS over SEATTLE (think SOARIN at DISNEYWORLD’s EPCOT) and we loved it. Very enjoyable afternoon activity.
I carried Christian down to the pool for some much-needed pool time. He made a friend at the pool; another little boy was there with his grandparents. Penni tried swimming with him for a while but the water (the pressure) was bothering her ribs and chest from where she had coughed so much, so she didn’t stay long.
We decided to hail another Uber to carry us to a CVS for some needed items, as Donnell now has a slight fever with his cold, then back to the hotel. Later, we hailed another Uber to our dinner area on the docks. Dinner was at the Crab Pot, very good food, but not as good as last time. We caught a ride back to the hotel and called it a night.