What: 7-Day Alaska Cruise
Who: Me, the Boy & certain members of the Boy’s family
Warning: this is a photo-heavy post. 🙂
Ketchikan
Our third port was Ketchikan. I think it was the largest of the Alaskan towns we saw. Here we abandoned all pretense of being rugged, outdoorsy types, and instead went all-out touristy. Our excursion for the day was a combo lumberjack show and totem pole collection tour. The lumberjack show was entertaining, if rigged. It was presented as a contest between two teams of lumberjacks – one from the US, one from Canada. Guess who won? Haha. They do some crazy things, though, and I for one would not want to be the guy who loses the log rolling contest. Brrr. The collection of totem poles was neat. We got a bit of the story behind each one, and a look inside a replica lodge house. This was another port where we had very little time outside of the excursion, so I don’t have much to say about the town. I was also developing a cold at this point, so that was fun…
Ketchikan shops.
Saw race at the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show
This does not seem like a good idea.
Log Rolling Motivation: the loser falls into the water. It was less than 50 degrees out.
Me ducking out the tiny door in the lodge house.
My favorite totem pole.
Victoria
Our last stop was in Canada, the beautiful city of Victoria, B.C. Apparently, if a ship is registered outside the US (as all cruise ships are; usually Panama), you have to make at least one international stop before returning to the US. Hence, a stop in Canada. This was a proper city, and it was CUTE! Quaint houses and modern houses, and everyone has a garden. We arrived in the early evening, and this was the briefest stop before heading back to Seattle. There weren’t a whole lot of choices for excursions due to the time limit, and we chose to go see Craigdarroch Castle. Prior to this cruise, I didn’t even know there were castles in Canada. This one was built by a Scottish family back in the late 1880’s. It was a bit odd, as the castle itself now sits smack dab in the middle of the suburbs. But the castle was gorgeous, full of lots of wood paneling and stained glass. And we got a bit of bus tour of the city on the way there and back, which was nice.
One of the cute houses in Victoria.
Craigdarroch Castle
It was hard to get good photos inside, so this is from their website. {link url="http://www.thecastle.ca" target="_blank"}via{/link}
Victoria's Parliament building lit up at night.
Me, in the full grip of my cold.
Our ship, the Carnival Spirit.
Then it was back to the ship to finish packing, and our last night on the boat. We docked in Seattle early the next morning, said goodbye to the boy’s family, and made our way back to Austin. The first thing I did when we left the Austin airport was take off my coat & sweatshirt, and bask in the heat. 🙂
If you missed the first two parts of the recap, find them here: Part 1: Ship & Sea | Part 2: Skagway & Juneau
Awesome!! I sooo want to go to Alaska! & Definitely I think I would go full-on tourist while I was there because chances are I wouldn’t be making a trip back soon!
It’s hard not to be touristy if you go on a cruise, since all of the excursions are designed for tourists. But it’s fun. 🙂 We definitely saw a good variety of what Alaska has to offer, I think, which is good since we won’t be going back soon either.
Ha! I’m not sure how I found your blog (which I’m loving), but this is too funny because I’m from Ketchikan! So it’s awesome to stumble across someone who was JUST there! Sounds like you enjoyed it, which makes me happy! Last summer I spent some time working at the Ketchikan Mining Company in your first picture.
Anyway, just wanted to say hi, that I love your blog, and that I’m glad you had a great cruise! :o)
Ha indeed! Small world. The only thing which would make it kookier would be if you had just been in Austin! haha 🙂
Glad you stumbled upon my little corner of the interwebs! Going to check out yours now.
We did this cruise a year ago and we loved it!! Sadly due to bad weather our ship was delayed in getting to Victoria. We didn’t get there until 7pm and so we didn’t get to see much except the lit up Parliament Building. What a great trip that was! Makes me want to go back.
We didn’t have delays or anything, but still didn’t get to Victoria until 7; the ship didn’t leave til midnight, though, so we had a bit of time. What time of year did you go?
We were there on July 4 of last year and I meant to say that we were supposed to be there by 7 but didn’t get there until 10. 🙂 We loved that cruise though!