The crew is: sorely going to be missed.
The trip from Ketchikan to Victoria was interesting. Thunderstorms, lightning, and waves that made moving around the ship and interesting exercise. The show that night was a collection of pop songs and a lot of dancing. The choreography was not good though, with too much arm waving for my taste. Dinner, however, was excellent.
Despite the waves and the fear that we might fall of the bed in the middle of the night, we slept well. At breakfast the next day we did hear some people complaining about seasickness and being unable to sleep.
Because of the storm, Jean-Claude got to Victoria one hour behind schedule. Not a problem for us, as we had no plans for the town. We had been to Victoria in 2006 and seen what we wanted to see. We actually debated whether to get out of the ship or not, but decided we must visit Canada so we got out and went for a stroll along the shoreline. As a bonus, we got our passports stamped. We had to ask for it, but they were happy to oblige.
We signed up for this wonderful service that would make our luggage disappear from our stateroom and reappear at the baggage claim in San Jose. We would be arriving in Seattle at 8 am and catch the flight back at 3:40 pm, so this way we would be able to wander around town without having to carry two huge suitcases. The only drawback is that the service required our suitcases to be out in the hallway by midnight. So we got back on the ship, packed, put them outside and actually did see them again at the luggage carousel in San Jose.
Not much to report about the next day. We disembarked around 8 and got to immigration, where things went awry. The guard remarked that the picture in my passport showed a full beard, while I had a goatee and he wasn't sure whether he should let me in or not. Granted, he was grinning when he said that, but Sharon immediately declared she was rather fond of me and would much rather they let me in, so he obliged. I should make a note never to travel internationally without Sharon.
We hung around Pike Place Market for a little while, in hopes of again finding the jewelry person Sharon had liked but met with no success. So we got on a cab, headed for the airport and hung around a few hours until we finally boarded our flight home. By 6:30 we were home and the adventure was over.
Did I like cruising? To use Sarah Palin's catch phrase, "You betcha!" I was afraid it was going to be too regimented a vacation, but it did not turn out that way. True that the ship had activities starting at all hours and there were open and close times for getting to the restaurants, but we chose to do things on a "if we felt like it" basis, so things were pretty much unhurried. I also liked the fact we chose open seating for the main restaurant, which meant it was just like going to any other restaurant, though occasionally we were placed on tables with other people. That was nice, though, as it is always fun to get to know people and see if they pass "the test".
The service on board was exceptional. The crew were always smiling, always helpful and went out of their way to make us happy. Our steward, Barkray, always greeted us by name, even when he ran into us in other parts of the ship. There was no tipping involved, which made their friendliness and helpfulness even more impressive.
One cute thing they did was towel origami. Every night we would arrive at our stateroom to find a towel folded in an artistic way. We had a dog, a penguin, an elephant and even an orangutan. It was a fun touch.
As for Alaska, it was impressive. The huge mountains, the wildlife, the snow, all was as promised and expected, without them having to use any special effects to achieve this. I found the glaciers especially interesting, with their color, their shapes and their sounds. I hope I get to revisit this place some day.
Wildlife sightings: none, sniff!
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