My trip to Alaska began as a Princess Cruisetour. My Alaska cruisetour blog gives more information about the land portion, but this page is dedicated to the cruise portion of the trip.
Day 1: Embarkation Day: Whittier, Alaska.
Whittier is a small town in Alaska with a nice website: whittieralaska.gov . There appears to be several things to do besides board a cruise ship. But that’s a pretty good thing to do, so that’s all we did! This is our balcony view of Whittier.
And a view from the top of the ship of the train coming into Whittier :
Room C620. We originally booked an interior room, but at the last minute, there were some balcony rooms available at a discounted price, so we swapped rooms. I’m so glad we did.
There are times during an Alaska cruise that viewing the scenery from the top deck is a must, but it is nice to also view the scenery without any crowds. The captain turns the ship 360° when viewing glaciers, so balconies are especially nice for those times.
Day 2: Cruising Yakutat Bay
Around 3PM, our ship arrives at Yakutat Bay.
First we see floating chunks of ice.
Then, the amazing Hubbard Glacier.
This is formal night. We made photos in front of the Glacier in our fancy attire. I’m wearing Earrings purchased in Fairbanks. They are made from moose hyde, porcupine quills, and beads.
Day 3: Cruising Glacier Bay
While the Hubbard Glacier at Yakutat Bay made me speechless, Glacier Bay made me breathless! The bay is a National Park, and around 9AM park rangers boarded our ship.
While in the Bay, meals are provided including an Alaskan Buffet on Lido deck, but no pre-planned ship activities are allowed. Our focus was completely on nature without any distractions of pool parties, contests, etc.
The rangers gave a fantastic presentation in the theater and set up an information desk on deck 15. I was able to get my Passport to National Parks stamped, but they ran out of regional stamps. Some well-intentioned lady bought 15. She gives the stamps as baby gifts. I sure hope those babies (or their mamas) appreciate a National Park Stamp from a place they have never visited.
The rangers also provided live commentary from the bridge which could be heard on the open decks and on the stateroom TV’s. We kept going back and forth from inside our cabin to hear the commentary to outside to see the views. The rangers allowed a good balance between giving information and being silent to allow quiet reflection. We saw the Margerie Glacier and the Lamplugh Glacier.
Day 4: Skagway, Alaska
Our ship docked around 6AM.
Several members of our group were interested in Salmon fishing while in Alaska, so I booked a 4 1/2 hour fishing charter with Never Monday Charters. There were six of us, so we were able to have the boat to ourselves plus Captain Ken and his first mate.
We saw amazing scenery, a whale, and several eagles, and that would have been enjoyment enough, but when one of the guys hooked a salmon, the fun really began.
One of our group caught a pink king salmon and my husband caught a rare white king salmon. The captain helped us arrange processing and shipping back home. He was great to work with, and I highly recommend him.
Afterward, we went into town to explore and have lunch at Skagway Brewing Company. The halibut was delicious. For more details and pictures from Skagway, see my Skagway Port Blogpost.
Day 5: Juneau, Alaska
Juneau is the capital of Alaska and boasts the Mendenhall Glacier, the Alaska State Museum and Mt. Roberts Tram. We enjoyed visiting those spots a few years ago, so this time we went whale watching instead.
We booked a tour in advance, online with Moore Charters and had a great 2.5 hour trip spotting whales and enjoying other scenery and wildlife. For more details and pictures from Juneau, check out my Juneau Port Blogpost.
Day 5: Ketchikan, Alaska
The ship docked right in town and we enjoyed a carefree day walking around the town and venturing onto Creek Street.
We purchased a small, soapstone salmon sculpture as a reminder of my husband’s nice catch in Skagway. It proudly sits on our mantle today.
Click this link for more pictures and information about Ketchikan.
Day 6: Sea Day
Ahhh, a day to sleep in a little and enjoy the ship before packing for debarkation tomorrow.
The Executive Chef, The Head Waiter, and the Cruise Director gave an entertaining cooking show followed by a galley tour
I attended Paper Twirling Craft Time.
Another ship follows us home.
Final, mouth-watering desserts.
What is more appropriate than Baked Alaska in Alaska?
We finalize our packing before bed; tag our bags with the proper tags given to us by the ship; and set the bags in the hallway. We will pick them up tomorrow in the cruise terminal after we leave the ship. Hint: Make sure bags have ID tags and some way to make them recognizable. We have bright green luggage straps and a neon orange handle wrap.
Day 7 Debarkation Day
We said goodby to some of our friends who were flying home on the same day. But we decided to extend our trip for one more day to see a little of Vancouver, British Columbia.
The cruise terminal is in Downtown Vancouver. It is an easy walk outside the main building to catch the hop-on-hop-off bus, but, we didn’t know this at the time. We took a taxi to the Blue Horizon Hotel which was also on the HOHO route. It is a nice Hotel with cafes and gelato nearby but away from the hustle and bustle of the harbor area.
We boarded the HOHO bus for a tour of the city. HOHO is usually a great way to see a city, but we found that this one was not as convenient as some I have used. 
There was no crowd to board from the hotel, but once we got off, it was difficult to find a bus with any room for boarding. We had to wait for several buses to pass before finding one. Perhaps we just happened to be here on a crowded Saturday.
We did a lot of walking in Stanley Park.
The park afforded beautiful views of the cruise terminal and downtown in the distance.
One of the HOHO stops is at this totem display. Lots of folks ride bicycles in the park.
We stopped at Gastown just in time for the Steam Clock to chime the hour. That always draws a small crowd.
Time for dinner at the Old Time Spaghetti Factory and then head back to the hotel for the night. Flights were early the next morning, then on to Tennessee.