Josh's Travel Blog

Sorry, been a bit busy, but here’s the post from the cruise.

Itinerary:

So we said goodbye to our friends from Vancouver and we were off. We got onto the ship, MS. Royal Princess, which had 19 different levels, 3,600 passengers, 1,500 crew and was 1,083 feet long. We went up to our rooms and sorted our bedrooms and things. The boat took off and we went up on deck, to watch us pass under the Lion’s Gate bridge. We then went out for dinner that night at the Symphony Dining Room, and watched a movie on deck that night. 

The next day was a full day at sea. I met some cool people in the Teen Lounge and I hung out with them a bit over the course of the cruise. We had a scavenger hunt, where to get the next clue, we had to ring the teen centre through phones that were all around the boat. The problem was that they said “Call 911 in case of emergency”, so people around us thought that we were prank calling 911. That was fun. That night for dinner was formal dress and we went out to the same dining room again.

Day 3 we landed in Ketchikan, and it was sunny (which is apparently rare for Ketchikan). It wasn’t that enjoyable of a place to walk around, but there was a street that was actually a river. The houses had been built out over thee river, and it was fittingly called Creek Street.

Day 4 was a bit better day in port, as we met up with some friends in Juneau, Jim and Ruth-ann. They drove us around a bit then took us back to their house. We headed to Mendenhall Glacier for some tourist sightseeing. We went to St Therese’s shrine, then picked up three crabs for lunch and a milkshake each. We went back to the house to hang with them and their two dogs Nano and Emma while having lunch. Jim makes amazing pottery and gave us each a coffee mug. We went on an afternoon walk up the perseverance trail, the oldest road in Alaska. We went to the town centre, got some fudge, and looked at Jim’s pottery in some local shops. That night we had a meal of halibut and salads, then finished off with brownie and ice cream, before being dropped back at the cruise ship that night.

Day 5 was a day in port, at Skagway. We picked up a jeep we hired for Danika’s birthday, and headed towards the Canadian border. On the way, we stopped at a Husky puppy kennel, where we sat and played with the puppies for awhile. After two hours we left and went on our way towards Carcross, and Emerald Lake, our final destination. We made it, took some photos, and headed back to Skagway, and to the Royal Princess. That night the waiters sang Happy Birthday to Danika as she hid under the table. The song they sung became iconic among the cruise passengers, as they would sing “Happy Birthday to you, from the Princess and Crew, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday to you.” Also the more common and slightly different song, “Happy Anniversary to you, from the Princess and Crew…” Which sounded quite interesting.

Day 6 was a day in Glacier Bay National Park, where we cruised through the icy waters, and saw little ice fall from the massive glaciers, which was a bit disappointing. We had a park ranger come aboard and had a live commentary for a good 6 hours or so and then eventually they climbed down the side of the boat on rope ladders onto waiting boats below.

Day 7, we also had another day of glacier viewing, in College Fjord. That was also a pretty disappointing view.

Day 8 we got up and off the ship quite early, to be picked up by Larry Rivers.

Altogether, the cruise was a very relaxing experience, met some really good friends that I’ll hopefully be able to see again, and would definitely recommend it!

*photos to come. There are a few photos on

https://perkinsonfamily.blogtown.co.nz

and

https://danikaperkinson.blogtown.co.nz