Oh how I love thee, but WHY?

There is something about you...yes, on my first visit I could not quite put my finger on what it was, but I have it now! You are rich! Rich in nature! Rich in beauty! Rich in peace! Rich in culture! Rich in shopping! Rich in "gold"! Rich in stories!

There you sit at the head of Lynn Canal, which really is not a canal at all but a natural made fjord. See you start off fooling me from the very beginning. But there you are, I can see you as I approach. There is a distinctive "downtown". Rows of buildings lined up against the street. But still something is different. When I first step onto your land. I look around. There is a mountain will paintings to my right. Paintings of what? Yes, that's it paintings from crew members whose ships docked in your port and advertisements from stores that are probably long gone from your town.

And to the left and straight ahead...there you lie, Skaguay or Skagway as you are called in "modern times". We are here at the mouth of Broadway, walking up your streets heading first to what I see on the left, the Alaska t shirt company. This store, while not rich in Skagway heritage, is rich in savings. I hope to make you my first stop. On the right is the great statue for the Klondikers.

The who? The Klondikers! What's that? They are the people who sought out Alaska during the Gold Rush of the Yukon (1896). The prospective "millionaires" would board a ship and head up Lynn Canal. It was NOT a smooth journey as the canal was full of bergs, fierce winds and they were not really sailing under the best of conditions. The hopefuls landed in Skagway to begin a trek over the mountains. It was to be a 500 mile trek up the mountains into Canada's Yukon territory. While that doesn't sound so bad, it was. The mounted police did not care that you wanted to come to their country to "strike it rich", but they were NOT going to care for you. So each prospector had to carry with him 1,000 pounds of supplies (or a years supply of goods). Yeah, that is typed right ONE THOUSAND POUNDS! "The Golden Staircase" (as it was known) was a constant line of prospectors. If you stepped out of line you would have to wait 15 minutes or so to regain a spot in the trek.

This is art depicting the "Golden Stairs"

This trek proved to be deadly for some (above is pictured Dead Horse Trail) , and not as rewarding for the others. Some decided that there was too much at stake and took up residence in Skagway instead. They sold the supplies needed, opened saloons and brothels, and one guy by the name of Soapy Smith decided to run the place as a mob city. He was crooked, a thief, and just all around NOT a good guy, but a very interesting read...I recommend you read about him.

Back to the future....behind the famous Klondikers is the White Pass and Yukon Railway. This railroad is a narrow gauge train that will parallel the "White Pass Trail" that the Klondikers took. Construction began in 1898 with a goal in mind of making it easier for the prospectors to get into the Yukon territory and up to Dawson City. The WP&YR today is run as a tourist attraction and what an attraction it is. I have been on the railway twice and have learned so much both times. The tour leaves right from the cruise docks. There are many tours that you can choose from. The most popular goes to the summit and back, then there are some that go into Canada and one that will take you into Whitehorse, BC.

The views are spectacular and because you parallel the White Pass trail you will get to see many of the sights seen in Gold Rush days. Like the "trail of 98", "Black Cross Rock", the old depot spots and a bridge that will make you cringe.

This is an amazing trek, the most popular inside passage excursion and well worth the $100 plus you will spend....save your money now!

When you get back to town it is time to explore some more. The Skaguay News depot is a wonderful place to pick up information on the Gold Rush, Klondikers, old newspapers, or even today's paper. There is even a cross stitch store in town! YEAH, I could not believe it either. Check it out! You can get gourmet cupcakes (get them fast when they sell out they close), you can check out Soapy Smith's life, visit tons of jewelry stores....but there are some must dos.

AB Hall---The Arctic Brotherhood Hall. There are over 10,000 pieces of driftwood nailed to the facade of the building and then have been there since gold rush days. This building will grab your attention FAST!! It was a social place for miners in its hey day, now it is a visitors center.

There is a lovely Russian facade on one of the jewelry stores, and wonderful mouth watering fudge at the Alaskan Fudge Company (wish I could have more of the vanilla glacier fudge).

Walk around more and you will see the National Park (please visit here), Skagway river, and walk off Broadway to see how the locals live. You can visit the market...the market is interesting. The food comes in on a barge and the grocery is stocked. Prices are HIGH! As the week progress, prices go lower as the perishables are starting to go bad. Canned good will escalate in price because folks are running out of fresh food and need to eat. Yeah, that's right the food barge comes in once a week! We were told, as the week progresses you take a chance on only eating canned items if you wait. We saw chopped sirloin for $9.00 per pound.

the cementary is near here too!

Well Skagway, I have covered most of your 7 blocks in just a few short minutes. For those of you given the chance explore this quaint little mining town and all she has to offer. I am sure that you will NOT be disappointed.

Alaska

Alaska aboard the Sapphire Princess

You should know:
Service- 3
Cleanliness- 5
Options (things to do)- 4
Arts and crafts- 3
Itinerary- 4
Food(taste)- 3
Food (appearance)- 5
Photo prices- 2
Coke card- 5
Bands-????? where were the bands?
Comedy shows- 5
Naturalist- 5
Embarkation-4
Debarkation-5
Shopping mall-4 (could be much better and is, I have shopped in better malls on smaller ships)
More for a newbie than a seasoned cruiser.

Day 1 of the Princess experience:
WE were delayed in boarding the vessel due to an outbreak of the Norwalk virus, the week before. 98 people got sick. Here’s the deal people….Norwalk is a type of flu, you can get it anywhere. The deal comes in that cruise ships are required to notify the health dept, Walmart or you local town is NOT. This is not a reason to not go on a cruise. If that is your reason, you should stay in your house all the time. Just use logic, watch touching “public” items (elevator buttons, railings, door knobs…..) without washing your hands or using hand sanitizer afterwards. LOGIC!!! Most of the ships provide purell, in case you are too lazy to wash your hands or you choose to do both. Most of the ships will no longer allow you to eat without first using the sanitizer, just an FYI.

Once we got on board, we headed to the Lido deck to eat. This was different, the staff served you from the buffet. Now being a person that hates places like Ryan’s and CiCi’s because people use the potty don’t wash, or pick their nose and don’t wash and then use the pizza spatula or salad tongs, grosses me out. I sort of liked this, but it did make for a very slow moving line.

Oh the food…well, I am a food person so I was looking for excitement. There was a seasoned Tilapia, which I was very excited about and a salad bar (yummy) and varying other fun looking things. Ok, the staff filled my plate and I go sit down. NO SILVERWARE! They must bring it to you, you and 45 other people that just sit down. Too LONG!!! When I finally got the silverware, the fish was cold and nasty. I could not eat it. The salad was very good and the homemade dressing was amazing. All my hot stuff was cold and gross. Not a good way to start off Princess.

We got settled and began to explore the boat. It was a very attractive boat in a classic sense. I however, like a little more BLING! I enjoyed the Pearl and the Carnival ships much better because they have FLAIR. I was warned about the colors a very bland, boring, beige scheme. Not exciting, not fun and does not entice you to spend money. Someone should really talk to them about color choices.

The stateroom is very tiny. Once again Carnival has proved that they have the largest and best staterooms on the seas. This room had 2 lower beds and 2 upper beds. 7 drawers 4x8x9, 5 shelves 10x 8x 5 and a very large closet (but it was the same size as every closet I ever see on a ship. The storage space shelf and drawer wise is ridiculous for a room that sleeps 4. Actually, I don’t know about 2 people with that storage for 7 days. Very disappointed in that. The shower was also smaller than Carnival and I did not think that was possible. I was not happy at all with the room.

That evening you were entertained by Shelley Gill and a comedy dude. The dude was great, he was a comic that does observation comedy based on the folks in the audience. I love this because even if there is a repeat performance, there is still new material. He did do 3 shows and one or all of us watched each of his shows.

OH Shelley, I love her. She was the naturalist. She was on board to enhance our Alaskan experience. Her job is to narrate as the ship sails through fjords and up the Marine Highway and to give lectures on Alaska. Her first one was just a little bit of wonderful. A bonus here, she writes children’s books and sold them on board. The books are based on her environmentalist life. She is a whale detective and Iditarod competitor when she is not writing and lecturing. A whale detective is someone who follows the whales through their feeding season, recording the flukes and the sizes of the families/pods. I would LOVE this job!!! It was exciting talking to her, because until I met her, I was the only person that I know who knew a lot about whales. Her knowledge was thrilling and I learned so much more from her. I attended every lecture that she did and every book signing and tried to be around for every narration she gave.

Trivia began tonight and we won the very first one of the cruise. That was a little bit of awesome. I love finding usage for my useless knowledge. 

Day 1 At Sea:
Today was a day of fun and activities. The plan was to hit one of the many pools and hot tubs, eat a lot, take some photos, look for whales, do trivia, attend the card making class, eat some more, explore the Japanese made ship, catch Shelley’s lecture, and shop in the mall. I accomplished all of this. And to top it off, the weather was great!!! Today was the first formal night and we took the formal pictures. Check them out.

Day 2 Ketchikan:
I was so excited to return to this great little town. We had goals! Melanie and I would arise and be in town by 6 am (3 am our time) and begin the shopping and gathering of free items. There was something that I wanted last time but did not buy and was going for it first. I only spend about $15 dollars today. I got stuff at Tongass, which is one of my very favorite stores up here. And I used the coupon book like crazy. After a couple of hours, Hannah and John joined us and the girls kept shopping and John and I began our trek through town. We walked down to the IGA and went inside to snap some photos. Then we went into the marina to look around, we saw a seal, tons of jelly fish, a sea anemone, a crab and NO salmon. UUUHHHH! I wanted to see them, but we were still too early. We went shopping down Creek Street and the girl outside the brothel said “I love your power ranger hat”, that was very strange given the way she was dressed and she was supposed to be from the 1800’s. Crazy. We kept walking heading towards a Wal-mart. We walked and walked and walked. Found us some lunch at McDonalds ($18 for 2 value meals), saw a Godfather’s pizza, a mall (not great), tons of Eagles fighting over fish and took lots of photos of local fare. I LOVE this town!

Once we got back to the ship, it was time to go (we were only on board about 20 minutes before we were too leave). See I can’t even remember dinner tonight, so the food must have been just so so like I said. Dessert though was New York style cheesecake with Carmel sauce, now this was good. I do remember the after dinner show…there were whales everywhere! I had never seen so many whales from the cruise ship before. After dinner we went outside (because it was so warm) to view the whales and saw dolphins and seals as well.


Day 3 Tracy Arm Fjord and Juneau:
Well, I got up early (even though a social director said it was not worth it) and I am glad that I did. The fjord breathtaking as you entered its mouth. The landscape inside was pretty, water falls, glacial ice, trees, mountains, ice bergs, whales and fjord colored waters. I was looking for the Sawyer Twins. I was very disappointed…the twins were at the end of the fjord to the right, and then you could only see one and just a portion of the one. Even though it was pretty, after you have been to Glacier Bay National Park, this is a let down. I was very sad that we did not go back to Glacier Bay. I shall not go back to Tracy Arm and never want to.

Juneau-----Now this is what I love. Juneau is a wonderful place. We were docked at the last dock and got there early so our tour left a bit early. First stop the Mendenhall Glacier. Now this is wonderful!!!! We were dropped off at the park (which I can’t figure out why it is NOT a National Park) and walked down the path to the glacier. Of course you can see the glacier from the road, but you really need to walk up to it. It is receding at a very quick rate. I was shocked at the difference that I could see in just 2 years. I took tons of photos down by the glacier and then made my way to the visitor center. I was looking for books. I found one for Trevor on glaciers fjords and ice bergs. I did not find an adult one on glaciers, which was the goal, rats. Then it was getting time to go but I had time to go to the picnic pavilion and feel “glacial air conditioning”. It was a very warm day, so the air coming down off the glacier was not only nice, but very welcoming, and the coolest air you can imagine. I loved it.

Next we boarded our bus again and Thomas took us to Auke Bay. The bay looked the same as 2 years ago, so I enjoyed that. We boarded a larger boat than I had last time. Last time we had about 20 guests this time about 50. It was a 3 tiered boat, I was nervous about the viewing but that was to be a short lived nervousness. We headed out and almost immediately saw a whale. Actually, there were whales EVERYWHERE! Everywhere….it was perfect. At one time we had a pod of 8 right off our port side. I got 78 fluke shots with my camera, last time I got 4! What a difference!!! There were whales everywhere! We saw some calves feeding for their first time in Alaska waters and showing off a bit too. This was a great use of $170, especially if you are a whale freak like me. We also saw eagles and seals and sea lions, but that is such a backseat to the whales.

After the excursion, I did some shopping until I just ran out of time. We got on the boat about 20 minutes before sailaway. What a great day!!!

Day 4 Skagway:

John and I had been planning for months to take the train into Canada. We called Larry the Chilkoot tour operator and secured some spots on this mornings tour. Since we had all ready walked into town, Larry came and picked us up and took us to meet Shawn our tour guide. He was a bit of a surfer type, laid back kind of dude that called the town Skagwicga….he was so funny.

The first thing Shawn did was take us to the train. We had taken the train 2 years ago, but you never get to step on the Yukon soil, so that is why we took a different tour. Passports are required for this tour so Melanie and Hannah could not go. There were some photos that I wanted to take on the train this time. I had missed them the last time, and luckily I had most of the trip memorized so it was not hard to remember what I had missed. I had missed the cemetery on the right as you leave town. This is a great little place, and full of history. Then up the mountain, Bridal Veil Falls is a MUST DO on the photo talking list. I missed it last time because of a dead battery. There are rapids under the falls that NO ONE has every conquered because of the roughness and rockiness. Many have died trying. Then there is a rock about 2/3 of the way up. On this rock is a cross. The story goes….this guy was helping to build this railroad. This railroad was needed desperately. Many folks and horses were losing their lives trying to make the trek up this mountain into the Yukon country. In the Yukon there was gold and these folks NEEDED gold. They were so poor. The Canadian government was ok with American’s coming up there, but said that they must bring enough supplies to survive for one year and the Mounties checked to make sure. Now this was over a ton of supplies that each person must bring. And it was per person, so if your wife came, you brought her supplies too. The railway was supposed to help the folks get over to Canada. Well, this guy was blasting the mountain and a rock (boulder) broke loose and crushed him. The other dudes tried and tried to get the boulder off (I don’t know why, he was crushed), but they could not so they put a cross into the rock. I have just shortened the story….you get the gist but you should hear the whole thing. I got photos of the American/Canadian border and then we went to new territory (for us) up into Fraser BC. There are 9 people that live here. We thought when they called it a town there would be shopping or something….nope 9 people and a customs office. We did get our passport stamped though by customs. Shawn meet us with the bus up in Canada and took us back down into Skagway. On the way, he dropped us off at many of the great sites, glacial waterfalls, scenic overlooks, fjords, and the American/Canadian border for photo opps. He was a great guide full of the Skagway stories. Of course, my goal was to find a book of these stories once we got into town. I fell in love with these stories 2 years ago and that was on the agenda, find a book. The first thing John and I did when we got back into town was grab a bit to eat. We ate at a former brothel, the Red Onion. The chicken salad I believe was the most perfect stuff ever. I loved this chicken salad. Our server was good, but the host was rude, not the call girls were sweet, but of course they wanted to take us upstairs to the brothel and we had no desire to do that, we just wanted lunch. After lunch, we started shopping, I hit the bookstore first and got a book on the gold rush. This book does not talk about Soapy Smith so I have to keep looking. Then we found a needlework store. NEEDLEWORK!!! You never see these, do you know how hard it is to find good patterns? That is why I have taken to designing my own so that I can have some. This place was great…I probably spent more money in here then I needed too, but I will use all the charts that I bought, so I am not too concerned. I am even ordering 2 others from the clerk. Then we found a fudge store, yummy, we got some fudge and nut clusters. These were very good. I shopped for more books but did not find what I was looking for…keep looking. I went into the Alaska t shirt co (my fave store in AK) and bought some stuff. Not much only about $20 ($10 of which was a book on Alaska). Then it was time to go, once again we were just making the cut off before the ship left. We enjoyed literally every second of these ports.

Day 5 At sea:
Our second day at sea. I had a lecture, journaling class, shopping at the mall, more dips in the pool and hot tubs, cross word puzzles and reading to do, and formal night. And we had to alter our course due to very rough seas….well it was rough for us too. 15-20 ft swells. This is the stuff I love and you don’t get enough of. It was almost impossible to walk in a straight line….no it was impossible.

Day 6 Victoria:
Once again, I did not get to enjoy much of the city. I won’t bore you with details, but I will say that the government building, the downtown, the port, and the restaurants….well, I think I know a little about them all. We went into I believe every restaurant looking for somewhere to eat. Either the food was not what we wanted or they did not take minors, or they had a 3 hour wait. We settled and a little place called Wicket and Sticks and I had fajitas that were wonderful and hot tea. YUMMY!!!

This is it folks….day 7, you are rushed off the ship as soon as they get into port. I hope you enjoyed my fun.

Packing for your cruise....

The time may be here to pack for your cruise.  There are some things that you might NOT want to leave home without.  After all, you will be living in roughly a 168 square foot box.  Only IF you are lucky you will have a window, but that window wont open...so you need a few things.

1.  A alarm clock.  The room does not come with one of these babies.   If you are in an inside cabin...there is NO light to warn you it's daytime.  If you are in Alaska, the sun really sets for about 2 hours....you will get ALL messed up even if you have outside light.  Make sure it is set to SHIP time.  In some ports this varies from ACTUAL time of the place visited.  Ship time is very important.  A ship will NOT wait for you because you forgot the time.  An excursion wont wait because you had no idea that the sun was up. 

2.   A power strip or extension cord.  There will be one MAYBE two (this one will be in the bathroom) outlets in the room.  This little item can save you lots of grief but take up minimal space in the suitcase.  You will need it for the cell phone cord, the alarm clock, the curling iron.....yep, it is going to serve very useful.

3.  Highlighter.  You might want to do some of the ships activities....bring a highlighter in a different color for everyone traveling with you.  That way each person can have there own color.  They can highlight the things that THEY want to do, and it will stand out on the daily schedule.

4.  some type of lanyard to carry you ship card.  You MUST have you ship card to purchase ANYTHING onboard.  It also serves as your identification to get on and off the ship.  I wear mine in a tiny lightweight id pouch for airports. I can put my card, my id, and some money for excursions and I have all I need.  You can go to the casino and have them poke a hole in the card so that you can wear it around your neck.  If you do plastic canvas, I have a pattern to make you one just ask me.  I made mine in the Carnival ship logo (cause I love them best).

5.  Downy wrinkle release.  Irons are NOT allowed on board.  They will take them and return at the end of the cruise if they find them in your bags.  They do provide one in the laundry room, but this works GREAT!

6.  tiny basket for bathroom.  They will give you one shelf, but if you have alot of stuff or are cruising with someone, you are going to need the extra space.  Sometimes I just put all my stuff in a ziploc and put it on the shelf and go from there.

7.  Febreeze.  Lets face it some have sticky feet, or pass gas a lot, or sweat.  This will help the room!

8.  tide to go.  You will spill something on your shirt.  This way you can wear it without saying "hey I am messing"

9.  ginger...for those that might get sea sick.  Especially first time cruisers.

10.  small suitcase inside large one....put this inside your large one.  Pack your stuff in the case...then when you get there, you have an extra case for your souvenirs! 

11.  Something to decorate the outside of your door with. That way it stands out in a LONG hallway of doors.  I have seen wreaths, posters, balloons....something that is small to pack.  Might be great if you can throw it away on the day of debarkation.

12.  Hat with a strap....the deck is a place that you want to wear a hat, but the wind will take it right off your head.  Wear a hat with a wide brim and a strap to protect your little face.

13.  hangers....I bring wire hangers that you can leave in the cabin after the trip.  There are NOT enough hangers in the cabin for everything that you will want to hang up.  These will solve that problem and if you leave them, you solve the problem for the next guest.

14.  Post it notes...you can use these to leave notes for your travel mates, your cabin steward, or just to hang on the outside of your door.  FUN!!!

15.  $1 light up sticks...they come in packs of 12.  Break one at night and hang on the bathroom door knob...a nightlight without the bother of a light.

16.  Meds...bring the meds that you use often and maybe heartburn medicine.  You are going to be able to eat 24/7...and will probably overeat.  Be prepared.  The ship will sell this stuff at DOUBLE or TRIPLE the cost on land.

17.  rain poncho...for $1 you can get a poncho at the Dollar Tree NOW, or for $9.99 you can get one on the ship, your choice.

18.  walmart type bags and ziplocs....walmart bags are great for wet or dirty clothes.  Sometimes you need them for the giant sea shell you find on the beach (yes it has happened to me).  The ziplocs are for tiny shells and other items you want to bring home.  These walmart bags also make great trash bags because the cans are NOT big enough.

19.  Book...there will be a library, but it never seems to be open when you need a book.

20.  a smallish rope...you can tie this to the shower rod and across the bathroom on the towel bar.  Hang up wet suits for a while to dry.

21.  Space bags...a MUST do if you want to pack light.  You can pack your clothes....roll up the bag and you have saved 1/2 the space that you would have without the bag.  I LOVE these!  Use them even when not on a cruise.

22.  Travel documents...without these you go NO WHERE!!!

23.  Toilet paper...a roll is great.  You might want to take some with you on an excursion...Some countries do not provide any.  The cabin paper is like a leaf!

24.  Sunscreen...you don't want to get burned.

25.  Bug spray...there are sometimes fleas on beaches and mosquitoes in Alaska...BE PREPARED!!!

A surprise gift

I don't think I have ever told you that I have cruise fever. I am constantly looking, and honestly the day we got home from the Fantasy last month, I got a brochure on the Epic and started instantly looking for good prices on her. This was before Christmas and on Christmas day, my husband kept telling me that he did not have a present for me. I told him that it did not matter, he just took me on a cruise. Since he mentioned it no more, I thought it was no big deal. After all the gifts were opened and we had begun to clean up, he brought me a rolled up piece of paper that he had tied with a ribbon. I opened it and low and behold he had found a cruise to purchase for us to take in June. It was a cruise...we all know how I feel about that....but as I looked harder it was an Alaskan cruise!!!! We had wanted to go back to Alaska, we have said that many times, but honestly I was not sure if it would be a possibility. Here it was, John just handed me a reality. What a thrilling Christmas gift, from a wonderful husband.

Now, I get to think about the trip...to begin the packing lists (I need to tweak the one that I created in 08'). To plan the excursions (and save the money for them), and now that we know our way around the towns better, see the things that we wished we had seen the first time. Neither of us felt like we had much time in Juneau...so we have another chance. Of course, we also both have said the we want to do the same excursions that did last time in Juneau too...but this is the fun part before the trip. Planning what on what to do, and how to squeeze it in during the time allowed.

We are heading to the same places as last time, which again is a little bit of wonderful because every place was a gem...Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, and Victoria...the only exception to the trip is that we will not go into the National Park (Glacier Bay). This time we will venture in Tracy Arm Fjord. Which is supposed to be spectacular, but we will see. The fjord features the twin Sawyer glaciers, which are known to calve alot, and of course that is what I am hoping for.

It is going to be great! Going to be spectacular! Thank you for such a wonderful gift that I will enjoy very much...well he will too!

For a review of our first Alaskan cruise please visit my old blog....

http://amchampion.blog.homepagenow.com