Ads 468x60px

June 08, 2013

The Last Frontier!

Alright people-- you ready for a cruise recap?? 'Cause here it comes.
 
After the whirlwind three days (wonderful days!) spent in Portland and Seattle, Leo and I were exhausted. I won't even lie. But we still had seven days of vacation, a new state AND another country to see- So onward we went.
 
Neither one of us had ever been on a cruise before, and neither one of us really had any idea of what we were headed into. Yes, lots of research had been done and we had the bare basics in our brains, but rolling up to the cruise ship dock was both exciting and a little terrifying. First off, we were technically entering Canada during the trip- and while I had confirmed months before we even booked that Leo's lack of an American passport wouldn't be a problem, I still had this "what if?" in the back of my head. So as we walked up to the check-in desk, my heart was already racing. Immigration is the devil- and it never treats us nicely. So you can imagine the adrenaline and panic involved when our nice little British check-in lady called over not one, but THREE, different managers and then took all of Leo's documents to the secret back room to "make sure everything was in order." We could not have asked for nicer staff through the whole process, but it was more than a little nerve-racking to see passengers, both foreign and domestic, come and go all around us while we stayed put... When the head honcho with the fancy walky talky finally came back after what seemed like 30 minutes and told us to have fun in Alaska, I nearly leapt over the desk and kissed her! And we sprinted toward the entrance ramp before anyone could say otherwise!

We were officially on the cruise ship! And It. Was. HUGE.
 
 
First stop: lunch. We found what would be one of our main hangouts during the week, otherwise known as "the buffet," and began what would also become a trend- eating in excess.
 
After staying awake just long enough to watch the ship pull away from Seattle, and participating in the super exciting mandatory safety evacuation drill, we headed to our cabin and CRASHED. We crashed HARD. We slept through the Welcome Aboard show, every single announcement that may have been made and barely even stumbled out of bed long enough to eat dinner. It was the most glorious night EVER.
 
And the whole next day was pretty much more of the same. We woke up to an especially rocky boat on our one and only full day at sea, and managed to balance our trays as we made our way through the breakfast line. We watched as others grabbed the little "sickness" bags posted at every elevator, and thanked our lucky stars that we were both feeling fine. And that's when we began to check out these people we were cruising with. Let me tell ya...
 
There are a lot of old people on cruise ships. Like, A LOT. I'm sure the fact that it was early in the season and not all the kiddos were out of school yet had an impact on this, but on this boat, we were in the extreme lower end of the age bracket. And the old folks love to wear clothing that states exactly where they’re from, what their job is, or what sports team they support. It was fascinating to watch. I now know the difference between the Boise State Broncos and the Denver Broncos. I also now know there’s such a place called Clemson University. I learned of Clemson's existence from a man who was wearing Clemson sweatpants, a Clemson hoodie and a Clemson hat. He later took off the hoodie to reveal a Clemson t-shirt underneath. I think he may have been a fan, but I knew better than to ask and open that can of worms. 
 
As far as I can tell, the clothing is all about starting conversations and bonding with fellow passengers. But really, Leo and I, without intending to do so, became the hermit passengers of the ship. Surely we couldn’t have been alone in this, but our favorite hobbies included sleeping, eating, and sleeping some more- leaving basically no time for socializing. Seriously- we slept A LOT. I’m sure our stateroom steward thought we were either clinically depressed or honeymooners. We ordered room service every chance we got. In fact, when assessing the luggage situation many weeks back and determining that participating in the formal dinner nights would require the bringing of at least one checked bag, we quickly ruled it out. ($25 for a checked bag?! Heck no.) And boy are we glad we made that choice! There were two “elegant nights” during the week at sea. All the old people would get all gussied up and put on their best and strut around the ship taking pictures with our Italian captain (Why are they ALWAYS from Italy??) and pose for formal pictures they would later be charged $5 for. Leo and I, in turn, would put on PJ’s, order just about everything available from room service, find whatever we could on TV and move only far enough to glance out the window or take a trip to the bathroom. It. Was. Awesome. 
 
We napped every day. I’m not exaggerating here, people-- EVERY. DAY. And these weren’t little cat naps. No, no- these were no nonsense, serious relaxation, I dare you to try to get us out of the room naps.
 
We did go to some shows (where Leo learned the YMCA!) and attended some nature and wildlife talks, and you better believe he hit up the gym every day (crazy man)- but yeah, for the most part, when we were on that boat, we were the laziest humans on planet Earth. I found this great article recently that sums our thoughts up perfectly. Read it HERE. I'm not sure that we'll ever become people who love cruises, but the down time involved while boat-ridden was sooo very needed after the semester we both just endured. For THAT, we may very well consider traveling by ginormous boat (with lots of food) again in the future.
 
But enough about the laziness! Because each and every time we hit land, it was go time! We stopped in five main areas up and down the inside passage: Skagway, Juneau & Ketchikan in Alaska, Victoria in British Columbia, and also got to enjoy a full day in the amazing Tracy Arm Fjord area. And it was even more incredible than either one of us could have expected.
 
 
 

 
 
Though the pictures don't even come close to doing it justice, I think they'll do a better job than any words of mine every could...
 
 
It was unbelievable-- There's just no other word for it! We saw glaciers, icebergs, bears, whales, mountain goats, salmon, waterfalls, bald eagles, porpoises... and many, many other spectacular sights!
 
 
 
 
The weather lingered in the 40-50 range nearly the whole time, and while we bundled up, the locals were definitely enjoying the "scorching days" as they called them. At our first stop in Skagway, we got off the boat wearing our winter coats, ready to see the tiny town, and found a couple of shirtless men playing frisbee nearby. Ha! I guess it's all about perspective, right?
 
We had such an incredible time and got the perfect mix of leisure and adventure we were looking for. There's still a lot to see in Alaska and I'm sure someday we'll make it even further north to discover it all, but for now, it's back to the books!
 
 

No comments:

Post a Comment