We opted to sign up for the free luggage valet program offered by the port of Seattle. Our bags were directly transferred from the ship to our Alaska Airline flight, which meant we would not see our luggage (after being left outside the stateroom the night before debarkation) until we arrived in LAX. This program is to encourage tourists to go into town (and spend some money) as opposed to waiting in the airport.
With no packs to carry, we were free to roam the Pike Place public market for a couple of hours.
Wall street has the bull, Pike Market has the pig…
Check out that line out the door of the original Starbucks…
Day 7 was conference in the morning, and Victoria in the evening. Victoria was a stop to satisfy the Passenger Vessel Services Acts of 1886, which prohibits foreign vessels (as are all cruise lines) from transporting passengers from one US port to another. So by stopping at a foreign port the cruise becomes compliant with the law. The purpose of this outdated act is to protect US registered vessels. Not really sure what this achieves this day in age.
Since we’ve been to Victoria a few years ago, we just walked around to stretch out the sea legs.
This is one of the only 3 photos I took of Victoria, and it was not staged. I was standing in that spot trying to capture the parliament without all the motor vehicles, and when I snapped this photo, the horse carriage had just entered into the frame.
Skagway, famous for the Klondike gold rush and the building of the White Pass train to the Yukon. Naturally, the excursion to do was to ride the train and watch the beautiful scenery pass by. That’s not what we did. We chose the helicopter dog sled tour. We booked the 2-hour tour directly through Temsco, and the only available time was 11:15AM. This was quite unfortunate timing, because basically the tour was sandwiched between two 3-hour slots, which wasn’t enough time to do anything else (most of the interesting tours were 4-6 hours long). So we took our time in the morning and walked through town on our way to the Temsco office.
Temsco runs a brisk business. They offer glacier landing as well as the dog sledding trips. Even while at breakfast on board the ship, we would see 5 helicopters take off one right after the other.
After safety briefing we were fitted into our snow boots.
All passengers were assigned seats based on weight. It appears to me that they put the lighter folks up front with the pilot, because Joe and I got a front row seat to the spectacular views.
Finally, the dog camp atop Denver glacier.
So the dogs are relocated atop the glacier for summer training, and everything you see in camp (including the dogs) is transported by Temsco. They told us it takes 85 helicopter trips to transport everything. At the end of the summer season, they have to pack up and bring everything back down – including pet waste and dog hair. Nothing is left atop the glacier.
Stars of the show in various states of repose…
and in action…
Our musher Dre races in Norway, but comes to Alaska during the summer to work with these dogs. She told us that the Alaskan huskies are like marathon runners – lean with high endurance. All the dogs want to do is run.
You can see how excited the dogs are right before their run, and as soon as they get into the run, all is quiet.
There were 4 people to a sled and we got to switch places so that we could all experience mushing and staring at the dogs’ behinds.
There are usually 12 dogs to a team. The two up front are the brains – they are the ones listening to the musher’s instructions and leading the team. The two (brothers) in the back are the brawn – they are the strongest and are carrying the brunt of the weight to get the sled going. The rest of the dogs in the middle are cruising, and just enjoying the run.
Phoenix’s daughter learning alongside mom.
Phoenix is 11 and she’s the leader of the team.
Here’s another use of a wide angle lens – distortion of objects close up.
Of course no dog sled trip would be complete without puppies! This little guy is 8 weeks old…
Dogs are bred based on lineage and racing abilities, and all the puppies in a litter are named according to ‘theme’. This helps the musher keep track of siblings so they don’t accidentally breed brothers with sisters.
It was really interesting to learn about the dog sledding culture, and wished we could have stayed longer, but our helicopter arrived to pick us up.
Helicopter take off from the Denver glacier.
View of the ships from the helicopter – Solstice is on the right.
The town of Skagway is small, so there really wasn’t much else to see. On our way back to the ship, we stumbled across Pullen Creek where tons of salmon were swimming upstream.
While back on board, we ate our way up to the top since we had missed lunch.
Started with dessert at Al Bacio…
Burgers and fries at the Mast Grill…
and ice cream at Ocean View Café…
The sun finally came out, giving us a beautiful view of town…
We sailed through Endicott arm in the AM to look at the Dawes Glacier. The cruise advertises sailing through Tracy Arm Fjord, but it didn’t seem like any of the trips during the season made it to that arm. The captain will often choose not to sail through a particular fjord due to ice congestion, but I read somewhere that it’s really up to the harbor seals. If there are harbor seal pups on ice, the ship will be directed by the National Park ranger to turn around, which I think is reasonable. I’m OK with not seeing/experiencing something as long as wild life is preserved.
To view the glacier, the best place to be is in the bow of the ship. There are several good viewing spot on the ship. Most people were in the warmth of the Sky Lounge, but I decided I wanted to be in the element – rain and wind. I chose to be out on the deck right outside the gym because being out in the element would be more memorable for me – whipped around in the wind while struggling to wipe away the rain drops off the camera lens. If I’m ensconced in a comfy chair with a warm coffee in hand I’d be bored. See, I’m a glutton for punishment.
Plus the window in the Sky Lounge is tinted, so whatever photo you take of the glacier is affected. So for those of you who want to experience the element, go up to deck 12 where the gym is, and go out onto the deck. Some folks stayed inside the gym (e.g., Joe), and later came out when we got closer. They probably thought I was crazy silly, but I enjoyed it.
Clear blue ice alongside the ship…
Ice chunks everywhere…
Blurry photo thanks to the wind as I couldn’t stand still.
Some people chose to view the glacier from the helipad, but why fight the crowd? Deck 12 is a secret spot – only a few people knew about it.
Look at the size of the catamaran compared to the glacier…
A few more photos of Dawes Glacier…
Dawes Glacier
View along the way…
The captain made a few 180s before heading back out the arm and onward to Juneau. It was going to be another 4 hours before arriving in Juneau, and some time between Endicott Fjord and Juneau was when I realized I was getting bored. OK, that didn’t take long. So to all you active travelers out there (you know who you are) – you’ve been warned.
We arrived in Juneau sometime before 1:30PM. We were scheduled to meet up with our tour guide from Above and Beyond Alaska (ABAK) at 2:30PM at the ‘C’ sign in downtown Juneau. Our ship was docked at the AJ dock – the furthest one from town, and you could take the shuttle, which would get you in town in 5 minutes, or walk 20 minutes into town. We of course chose the latter.
Tracy’s King Crab Shack. This is where we saw all of Joe’s people – the Cantonese. They all made a bee line to the Crab Shack. We don’t get it – too much work for such little return in crab meat, but I guess it’s in the Cantonese genes.
Since we had time, we wanted to check out the rest of the town, but we were met by a down pour – always expect rain in Alaska. So we just headed back to the ‘C’ sign to wait for our driver.
A guy from ABAK drove us to the warehouse to get outfitted. On the way there, he pointed out the lone McDonald’s in all of Juneau. It must be a big deal. Our tour guide Emma later told us when they first opened, there was a run on McD’s and then they had to wait 2 weeks for the next shipment to come in.
I had wanted to sign up for the canoe paddle and glacier trek, but it had already sold out by then, so ended up booking through Juneau Shore Tours for a private 6-hour kayak and glacier trek with ABAK. I thought it would be better to kayak vs. doing the canoe paddle, but Emma told us that kayak is harder since there are more people paddling in the canoe. No worries, I had been working on my back and arms for the last couple of months just for this excursion.
After being outfitted, Emma drove the 2 of us to the kayaks. On the way there, we got to talking to Emma, and interestingly, she’s originally from southern California and moved to Juneau 4 years ago for an outdoors studies program offered by the University of Alaska Southeast. Where was this program when I was going to school? One of the things she had to do for class was to hike the entire Mendenhall glacier, yes, that’s 13 miles of glacier trekking. Again, where was this program when I was going to school?!?!
But I digress…
Kayaking was exciting for the first 10-15 minutes, but then I realized that it was going to be an hour of kayaking to the glacier. I just had to put my head down and paddle.
We finally reached shore, along with everyone else…
Kayakers and paddlers alike…
A snack before the trek…
Nugget Falls in the background.
ABAK had prepared a snack bag for us. In it were candy bars, gummy fruit chews, baby carrots, humus, string cheese. Oh, after 1 hour of kayaking everything tasted like heaven.
I was ready to go, but we waited for everyone else to clear out first – hence private tour. FYI, the canoe paddle & trek is under $300 per person, the private kayak & trek is $550 per person – so if you want to do this tour, sign up early!
My main objective of this tour was to see an ice cave. On our way there, Emma explained that the glacier has been retreating faster than it is advancing. Caves that they visited last week had already melted. This information was quite disturbing, and I realized the irony of us traveling to Alaska contributes to all this warming trend and the melting of the ice. Something to chew on…
But since I was already there, I had to check out the cave…
A blurry Joe in the cave…
Here’s glacial water flowing out the end of a moulin…
I had lugged my tripod (yes, I was able to fit it into my pack) with me to capture the flowing water through the cave. Here’s a situation where wide angle lenses would be useful.
This beats whale watching, an extremely popular excursion in Juneau, for me. Although I would have liked to have had the option of staying in Juneau for another day so that I could do both. Again, this is when cruising takes that control out of my hands.
The benefit of a private tour is that you can stay in the cave taking pictures for as long as you want, but alas, I had to put away the tripod and put on crampons for some glacier trekking.
Another argument for wide angle lenses…
And another one…
The blue flowing glacial water draining into a moulin…
Interesting tidbit per Emma – moulins are formed by something heating up the surface of the glacier. It can be anything from a leaf to a pebble/rock. All these objects absorb heat from the sun, and start melting the glacial surface. Water then starts burrowing and forming a tunnel. Very dangerous to fall into one of these things as you never know where you’ll end up at – spit out into a cave if you’re lucky, or trapped in the glacier if you’re not. Fun stuff! I would have wanted to rappel down a moulin if my ship didn’t have to leave in a few hours…
On our way back, Emma brought us back through the ice cave and allowed me to set up my tripod again – maybe it was a good idea to book that private tour after all.
I just can’t get enough of this…
Finally, she brought us to a spot to finish the rest of our snack. What snack? I had already gobbled up 90% of my snack earlier, so I just checked out the scenery.
Paddlers already heading back…
We were one of the last ones left, and I was so not looking forward to the kayak trip back. I told Joe, as we were en route, that I’m OK never having to get into a kayak ever again for the rest of my life.
As the sun was starting to set, I was getting a little anxious about making it back to shore before losing any daylight since there were apparently no lights on shore to guide us back. Imagine getting lost on a lake at night? Luckily we had the ever calm Emma, and we did make it.
On our way back to the ship, we finally saw our first adult bald eagle – sorry, no photos. They are apparently so omnipresent that Emma refers to them as pigeons.
By the time we got back to the ship, it was 8:30PM.
Since it was too late for dinner in the main dining room, we went to the Ocean View Café to grab dinner before it closed at 9:30PM.
Day 2 was a sea day. The morning was occupied by conference session, and we had the afternoon off. I already don’t remember what I did that afternoon. I most likely walked around the ship some more, and hit the gym before dinner. Interesting observation – when you’re in the gym you feel like you’re on a completely different ship – all the active folks are in the gym. As you stroll through the rest of the ship you’ll find most people eating, drinking, or napping.
Most people say that Alaska cruises are port intensive when compared to Caribbean cruises. Personally, I would have liked to have seen more places. We hit 4 ports during the entire duration of the 7-day cruise. The first port was Ketchikan – the salmon capital of the world, as well as the rainiest city in the country.
Thanks to all the rainfall, Alaska is extremely lush and green.
This photo was taken at Traitor’s Cove (a little more about that later) using my wide angle lens shooting from behind the blind. A regular lens would have cut off portions of the photo. So definitely bring your wide angle lens if you go to Alaska.
None of the excursions in Ketchikan had caught our attention other than the Misty Fjord float plane tour and the bear viewing flight tours. Back in July, I was about to book the excursion for the bear viewing tour when I heard about the float plane accident in Ketchikan where the plane crashed while taking off, but fortunately all passengers and pilot were able to swim back to shore. I’ll admit I was spooked, so Joe and I decided that we would just check out the town on our own, and maybe visit the totem parks. Luckily, a month went by and the accident became a distant memory, and I decided to book the Traitor’s Cove bear viewing with Island Wings the week prior to our trip. Good thing we did, because we strolled through town in 2 hours, and we were scheduled to be docked for 9.
Scenes along scenic Creek Street…
Yes, this is a marijuana shop.
Salmon at the fish ladder.
We met up with Shona from Island Wings at 10:45AM at the “liquid sunshine gauge” and were driven to their dock.
That’s the float plane that we’ll be taking to Traitor’s Cove.
The float plane was piloted by the owner Michelle, and the woman is good. Ride was calm, and the landing on water was like knife cutting into soft butter – smooth.
Michelle told us an interesting tidbit about Ketchikan. There are only 3 ways into Ketchikan – plane, boat, birth canal. There are no roads leading in and out of the town.
Mid summer is when the salmon return to their spawning sites – and where there are salmon, there are bears. When we landed at Traitor’s Cove, we were greeted by Tim, our forest guide who drove us to the trailhead and led us to the observation deck right at the fish ladder. Oh, were the bears out feasting!
Another interesting tidbit – bears do not like the taste of male salmon, and are partial to female salmon because of the roe. They will actually spit out the male salmon – talk about picky eaters.
Waiting for that salmon.
Here’s one in action…
Some bears were more skilled than others, and there were strategic areas where salmon could be easily caught. Of course the bigger, more dominant bears occupied those spots. There was one bear just standing around in the less desirable location, and never caught a thing.
Tim spotted a juvenile bald eagle nearby…
After being at the observation deck for 2-3 hours and getting eaten alive by mosquitos (make sure to bring insect repellants) Tim drove us to a scenic spot.
Then catching our ride back…
The tour lasted for a good 4 hours, and we made it back to the ship in time. If there’s any excursion to do, this would be it if you like watching bears feasting on salmon, and riding in a float plane.
Traveling is as much, if not more, about the journey as it is about the destination.
As travel purists, we are gluttons for punishment. Instead of spending a relaxing day at the spa, we’re at the Porto train station lost & found office trying to track down the camera bag we had inadvertently left on the train (yes, we did get it back thanks to the honest Portuguese who found it). Opting out of 5-star hotels, we spend the night in a hostel akin to a jailhouse in Salta, waking up every hour on the hour due to the unbearable heat and humidity, just so that we can experience a hostel stay. Instead of flying from Bangkok to Chiang Mai in under an hour and a half, we take the 13-hour overnight sleeper train sleeping on bunks. Numerous trips involving running with our packs on our backs trying to catch the next train, bus, plane, boat, tuk-tuk etc. However uncomfortable the experiences, these are ironically the ones we remember the most. I can give you vague impressions about what we actually saw at our destinations, but I can give you specific details about the journey.
Very rarely do we settle for a relaxing trip – all-inclusive hotel or that rare cruise. There’s not much in the way of a journey for these types of trips – it involves arriving at a resort/ship, unpacking for the week and zoning out. On cruises, the destinations become the focus by default because the journey itself is not indelible. On my first cruise 8 years ago, I remember things I saw in Ephesus, Santorini, Mykonos, and Rhodes. However, the time spent on the ship comes up as a complete blank. I cannot for the life of me tell you what I did/saw while on the ship.
So this time, I made sure I took tons of pictures of the ship in order to jar my memory years from now.
Solstice has 15 floors (there is no 13th floor). Joe and I stayed in the deck 3 inside stateroom 3172 (i.e., no window or balcony). The room is much better than the one we had stayed in on the Aquamarine years ago. Spacious enough and most importantly, clean.
I was initially concerned about the noise, since it was located right next to the Passport bar in the grand foyer where everything seems to happen there, and that it was right underneath the casino. However, my fears were unfounded, because there is a set of heavy doors separating the corridor and the grand foyer, and as long as they close the set of doors at night you can hear absolutely nothing even though there’s a 80’s sing along going on at 11PM. As for the overhead noise, there was none at all since the casino floor is carpeted.
Here are some shots of the grand foyer and its surroundings…
Decks 3-5 of the foyer
Shore excursion desk
Guest relations
Passport bar right outside our corridor.
Stairs leading up to deck 4
View of grand foyer from deck 5
Here’s the casino…
Casino bar
Above the odd number cabins on deck 3 is the shopping alley. Can’t say for sure if there were any issues with noise in those cabins.
Bars and lounges…
Martini Bar
Martini Bar
Martini Bar
Sky Lounge
Sky Lounge
Sky Lounge
Master Cellar
Master Cellar
World Class Bar
Ensemble Lounge
Ensemble Lounge
Quasar disco…
Specialty dining…
Murano
Sushi on 5
Sushi on 5
Silk Harvest
Tuscan Grill
Tuscan Grill
Blu for Aqua guests…
Luminae for suite guests…
Grand Epernay – main dining room for everyone else…
Ocean View Café – if you’re in a rush and just want to grab a quick bite, or if you just want to stuff yourself with buffet food.
The following are my favorite places on the ship – Café Al Bacio, Library, and the gym.
Café Al Bacio…
Had the best cheesecakes.
Dulce de leche cheesecake
Sometimes we had more than one dessert.
The library was a cozy place to be. In case you forgot to bring a book you could probably find something here to help pass time on the ship.
The gym was pretty well equipped – bosu balls, exercise balls, medicine balls, free weights up to 75lbs, weight machines, treadmills, elliptical, rowing machines, stationary bikes; but no kettle bells.
The suspended ficus tree, in between the banks of elevators, over the grand foyer was pretty amazing as well.
Here’s a view of the atrium at night…
On the upper decks are the outdoor pool,
solarium…
and Lawn Club…
One can rent an alcove for a day.
Hot glass show was pretty entertaining.
Giant screen for movies.
Stairs on the ship…
Stairs leading up to deck 4
Some miscellaneous shots around the ship…
My impression of Celebrity Solstice is that it’s a very elegant ship. There was nothing assaulting the senses, and I enjoyed walking around the ship discovering all the little nooks and crannies. If I have to do another cruise, I’d pick the Solstice.
We flew into Seattle the night before embarkation, just to make sure that we wouldn’t miss the ship in case of any flight delays. Checked into the Paramount Hotel, which I would consider a boutique hotel, close to midnight. This is a very basic accommodation, and good enough for an overnight stay (although I must say that they have the MOST COMFORTABLE sheets I’ve ever slept in). It’s a couple blocks away from the Link Station and the monorail making it a convenient location.
Since we had a few hours to kill the next morning before embarkation, we decided to take the monorail to the Chihuly Glass & Garden located right next to the Seattle Space Needle.
Entry fee into the exhibit is normally $29 per person, but it’s $10 off per ticket before 10AM, so we made sure we got there early. The exhibit is pretty amazing, and the man is talented.
Here are some of his indoor pieces…
This one is my personal favorite…
Before the Alaska trip I opted to purchase a wide angle lens thinking that I would need one for the expansive Alaskan scenery. However, several cruise critic members stated that it wasn’t necessary, and that a zoom lens was what was needed. I still brought my wide angle lens, because it is the perfect lens for indoor close up shots (like the one above) to get everything into the frame. I later found out that a wide angle lens is still needed while in Alaska, as all my tour guides told me that so many people have difficulty fitting everything into their shots.
Here are the glass pieces in the garden…
We saw a few pieces in the gift shop we were tempted to purchase, but alas we didn’t…
We got back to the hotel to check out, and hailed a cab to Pier 91. I had wanted to get to the pier at 1PM to avoid the crowd, but ended up getting there an hour earlier. It took us about 45 minutes from curbside to topside, and we soon settled in in the Ocean View Café for lunch.
Joe and I are light packers. After years of traveling, we’ve long ditched hard shell and large, wheeled luggage. We’ve learned that soft-shell packs are the best way to travel.
You’ll always have your packs with you, and never risk losing them through airline mishandling.
It’s lighter.
It’s expandable, so you can shove more if needed – although you always want to pack as little as possible.
You can throw it on your back, free up your hands, and run for that train.
Cobble stone roads are never an issue.
You can bring it to Venice, as opposed to your wheeled luggage.
When it comes to packing, less is more. Pack the essentials. Let clothing do double duty. The last thing you want is to be bogged down by ‘things’ when you’re traveling. We’re often met by surprise when porters or drivers see us, “That’s all you have?” or “Where are your luggage?”
Alaska cruise requires packing for temps ranging from 30-80 degrees (making layering important), rain gear, and dresses for formal nights on the ship. It’s a little more than what we’re used to, but it’s doable.
Important things to know are to let clothing do double duty and to get clothing that is compact. Compact gear tends to be a little pricier, but it’s worth the luggage space.
Sometimes it’s easier for women because we’re smaller and our clothes are smaller, lighter, and take up less space.
From top left: skirt, sleepwear, light sweater, down jacket, rain jacket
From middle left: gyms clothes for the 2 sea days, hiking pants that zip off to convert into shorts if needed, tights (to be worn under the hiking pants if it gets cold), 8 days of short sleeves, sandals for dinner on the ship.
From bottom left: 9 days of underwear and socks (I will usually pack an extra for these as you never know), gloves, hat, clutch for dinner, and hiking boots with wool socks
On the bottom: 4 dresses for dinner.
A few items are doing double duty: one of the white Ts will be paired up with the skirt for one of the dinners and will be worn again the next day. The blue Ts may be worn as gym shirts if I choose to exercise additional days. Since the gyms shorts are made of quick dry material, I can always wash them the night before use.
My favorite item (other than my SW sandals) is the down jacket.
Down jacket
Because it can be packed into this…
Compact down jacket
Roll up all the shirts and dresses – placing the easily wrinkled dresses on the outside before rolling everything up.
Throw in the toiletries, and I’m ready to run for that ship…
This pack has served me well for the last 7 years traveling across 5 continents.and of course the camera pack.
There are 2 other people I know who pack even lighter than we do – sister and BIL. They travel with their regular sized back packs for a weeklong to 2-week vacation. Now that’s what I call extreme packing.
I am not a cruise person. Joe enjoys cruising, but in the 16 years we’ve been together, we’ve only gone on one cruise – the Greek isles with mom, dad, sister & BIL. At the time when we booked the cruise, it was mostly out of concern for mom. Mom being sedentary in nature – and even more so after her stroke 20 years ago, we decided to take an easy family vacation.
Vicky always took mom and dad on vacations that were jammed packed with walking tours, museums, and sight seeing. By the end of the trip, mom was always complaining about how tiring it was. I, on the other hand, was always a bit more accommodating with her wishes – all-inclusive beach resort vacations, which is not always appreciated by the more ‘cultured’ in the group. So a Greek cruise was a compromise – see Athens, and then relax on a cruise to go island hopping.
That was 8 years ago. In the last 8 years, I have never contemplated booking another cruise, as I prefer land touring and spending more than a few hours in one location – usually a week in one city, town, or locale to really get a feel of the place. Plus, that Greek cruise ship we were on was “70’s” old, small, and claustrophobic that I couldn’t wait to get off.
Mom in the foreground of the Aquamarine @ Mykonos.
With that said, cruises are a good way to visit several different cities/towns in different countries in a short span of time. It gives you a taste of everything – kind of like ordering tapas as opposed to sitting down for a 5-course meal.
Cruising also means crowds. I don’t like crowds.
After returning from my CME in Maui last year, Joe wondered if we could go on an Alaskan cruise for CME meetings since he wanted to check out Alaska. I wasn’t too keen on either Alaska or cruising so I gave him a non-committal answer, “sure if you can find one” thinking those surely don’t exist as CME meetings are usually on land. Oh, how wrong I was. There are tons of CME conferences held on cruise ships, and they go anywhere in the world – Caribbean, Mediterranean, Baltic, Japan, Australia, Cuba, and of course Alaska.
I wouldn’t necessarily consider cruising for a regular vacation, but a CME cruise would be acceptable, as I would be in conference for 8 hours a day during sea days- this will guarantee that I’ll never get bored while on the ship, and I can explore on port days.
To hold up my end of the promise, I started looking for Alaska CME cruises. Most important criteria are the CME topic and timing. The earliest we can go is late August/early September as we had just returned from Africa in May, and Joe had just started his new job the beginning of the year – it would be poor form to go on 2 vacations within 6 months of starting work. There was one great topic on dermatology, but that set sail in June. I found 2 for late summer – WH which sails later, and ID earlier. At first I opted for the later sail date, but when Joe got the OK for ‘any time’ I decided to go with the ID sail date since it’s a better topic. The WH conference is on Royal Caribbean (RCI), and the ID on Celebrity Solstice (X). Not knowing anything about alphabet cruises I realized that we lucked out with Celebrity Solstice as it was actually a better ship for us. After some researching, I found out that RCI is geared more toward family with children, whereas X has a more mature demographic. I don’t have anything against children, I just place a higher premium on tranquility.
After more research into shore excursions I am finally getting excited about Alaska (notice how I said ‘getting excited about Alaska’, not the cruise).
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