We had looked forward to an Alaska cruise ever since completing our first cruise to the Caribbean. Being that we are not necessarily sun worshipers, the thought of wearing a jacket, sweater or coat most of the time while on deck IN JULY didn't really phase us. As we were discussing the idea, some friends decided to join us. This can be a little bit scary for the independent minded but we agreed on the rules early. This was easy since both couples were thinking the same thing. Once on the boat, we were on our own. We would compare notes at meals and attend the night entertainment together. Beyond that, we were on our own. Long story short? it worked out perfectly.

My wife, son, and daughter, and I piled into the car, passports in tow, and started the long drive to Vancouver. We had used a vacation club to book a high rise hotel in downtown Vancouver and allowed a little exploration time before we headed down to the dock to board. Vancouver is a beautiful city but we only had a little time to explore it. Maybe next time.

We boarded shortly after noon and headed to the buffet for a little lunch. The buffets are certainly not the gourmet food you will get at the evening meal but they are certainly a good holdover. Remember the tip from the other hubpage, three meals a day so you can enjoy that evening meal. Next we headed in to check out our cabin. For this cruise we went a little higher and rented a room with a balcony. The expense was well worth the money as we spent most early mornings (I'm an early getter upper) sitting on the balcony watching the scenery go by. It wasn't unusual to see dolphins swimming beside the ship. My son spent more time during the day out there while I was feeding the one armed bandit and actually saw three humpback whales while sitting on the balcony reading.

Hint to cruisers- don't get there at 7:30 in the morning. Chances are the ship docked recently if and has not undergone the massive cleanup that occurs after docking. You'll just end up sitting for hours in an uncomfortable waiting area. Plastic chairs- gum under the tables- lousy snack food, you've got the picture. Explore the city you are embarking from. Just look at the list; Seattle, Vancouver, San Juan, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, New Orleans. Why miss all this?

At 4 p.m. sharp we headed out of port. we would spend one day at sea in the inland passage before our first port of call. Unlike cruising on the open sea, the inland passage typically runs a little smoother making it ideal for those who suffer from the quesies. One thing to be aware of though being that you are cruising in cooler climate is that fog can role in and swallow the ship. It is a little disconcerting not to be able to see where you are going and hear the ships foghorns letting other ships know where you are. This was not a problem on our cruise however. The day on board let us get familiar with this class of ship. The Vision of the Seas from Royal Caribbean sports exactly the right package for an Alaska cruise. It has thousands of windows. You can see the scenery from anywhere on the ship.

Hint #2- When watching for whales and dolphins on the Alaska cruise, first look for the spouts as they surface and clear their blow holes. (Sorry, I don't know what else to call them.) You'll be amazed how adept you get at looking for them.

Our first port of call was Skagway. This quaint little town looks like it still belongs in the 1800s. We booked a later excursion that gave us a little time to explore and shop. Being a gold panner, I was in seventh heaven seeing numerous natural gold nuggets used as accents to the jewelry cases. My son was eyeing some Native American Pottery in one store while I was talking to the owner. I commented to the owner about the nuggets in his jewelry cases. he said that prospectors still come down from the hills with nuggets to sell. He than invited me over to one of his large cases. "Now HERE is a gold nugget! He reached into his safe and pulled out a nugget and laid it in my hand. I was dumbfounded. The nugget was three POUNDS of pure gold and covered my entire outstretched hand.

We thanked the owner, gathered up the purchased pottery, and headed for our excursion. Now it had started to rain lightly. A bus picked us up at the designated spot and took us to a reconstructed mining camp where we all piled out to the smell of fresh wood grilled salmon and baked potatoes. It was a great start. They next showed us through the camp, introducing us to the old sled dog that minded the camp and showing us visions of a gold miners life. We then went into a little fashioned theater for a very entertaining and humorous history based melodrama followed by a lesson in gold panning. That was interesting because there were many more of us than there were of them. Since I used to teach a class on gold panning, I ended up helping with the lessons. It was great fun and everyone got a little vial of gold to take home from Alaska.

Back in town, we had a little more time for shopping so we picked up a carved totem for our Native American art collection. As we made our way back across the dock, I marveled at the crystal clear water and the salmon swimming around the dock. Many were as big as my arm. Sure beats those bluegill back home.

We were off again for a rendezvous with Glacier Bay. We were cruising in July which, by the way, is the height of whale season. Although it doesn't always happen, we were able to get fairly close to the glacier and see the beautiful blue ice so often seen only in photographs. We saw seals and sea lions on the floating ice bergs as we crept into the bay. The only disappointing thing was that the glacier did not calf while we were there. This is when a huge chunk breaks free from the leading edge and plunges into the sea.

Leaving Glacier Bay, we headed for our next destination, Juneau, the Capital of Alaska, with a mind blowing population of 31,000. Across the street from the dock is a large tourist trap to get any manner of Alaska souvenirs. The historic downtown is a short walk away but we were on our way to the buses. We were going whale watching! On the way to the boat we made a photo stop to view Mendenhall glacier, a major tourist attraction in the area. After a short stop, it was on to the boat. They pretty much guarantee that you will see a whale on these trips. They ensure this by connecting a number of boats by radio. Once one finds the whales, they radio to the others. The whales are protected from whale watchers getting too close and the people running the show make sure that others don't break the rules.

We took off into the open water like the captain knew what he was doing. As we headed out watching the islands slide by, I spotted the back of a humpback swimming near one of the islands. I pointed him out but we sped on. Hmmmmm. Then over the loudspeaker I found out why. "Ladies and gentleman. we have received word that there is a pod of Killer Whales in the bay headed for open water. We're going to try to get within range to see them. The run was successful. Soon we were beside the pod of five killer whales as they surfaced and dove on the way to the open ocean. Soon they were gone. We turned back and headed toward the location where humpbacks had been spotted. On the way we saw Dall Porpoises, sea lions and bald eagles. Then, pulling into an area where the water opened up a bit, we saw our first Humpback Whale headed into a dive with it's huge graceful tail sliding into the water. We would see several whales that trip. They are massive graceful creatures. We didn't see any breach (jump out of the water). The guide said that at this time of year they rarely do that as they have to conserve energy and build fat for their trip to Hawaii for mating season.

Back to the ship and off to our last port of call, Ketchikan. This was probably one of the most beautiful of the ports yet, for us, one of the most disappointing. We booked our excursion to see the totems at the Totem Heritage Center and to see the native dancers. The totems were interesting to a point but the dancers were uninspired and seemed to just be going through the motions. It was just to touristy.

When we got back to Ketchikan we still had a little time to explore. We visited several shops, one of which had jewelry called gold-n-quartz.. The ring that I purchased is gold with a stone cabochon cut from gold quartz ore. Thus the stone is white with gold veins throughout. I get many comments on it. We didn't have time to walk to the main street that paralleled the stream that the salmon made their run in. We will definitely explore that next time if we have time. When we boarded the boat we could see those that chose to go salmon fishing for their excursion climbing out of the fishing boats with impressive salmon catches iced down and ready for transport. That we WILL do next time.

From Ketchikan, we headed home---very slowly. Seems we were ahead of schedule and had to slow down to get into port on time. This is curious and leads to my next couple of opinions about cruising.

Shopping

Almost all, if not all, of the cruise lines have a shopping program. They go into the ports of call and negotiate deals with shops to put into the shopping booklet that the cruise sells to passengers. My understanding, and I could be wrong, is that the store owner pays for participation into the program. Several stores that we went into said that they chose not to participate but had prices as good as or better than those in the booklet. There was hard feelings that the cruise ships wielded this power.

There are two sides to that story especially when it comes to the more expensive items like jewelry. In participating in the program, the cruise ship guarantees the object. Think about if you had to return something and had no contact information. You are pretty much stuck. If, however, you bought from one of these vendors, the cruise ship will help you return it and get satisfaction for your purchase. The couple that we cruised with bought a gorgeous tanzanite ring while on the cruise from a registered store. The stone popped out and was lost. She contacted the cruise line and the purchasing liaison worked with her and the store to get it replaced. Had she bought elsewhere, she would have been on her own.

I also found it interesting that there were no coupons or registered stores in Juneau. I don't know if the city government outlawed the practice or the vendors got together and said no to the program. As a result, the cruise line would not recommend shopping or souvenir shops in Juneau. It really didn't matter because there was a monstrous tourist trap across the street from the dock!

The second thing has to do with our slow trek back home. It was my feeling, backed up by the storekeepers in Ketchikan, that Royal Caribbean spent less time in ports of call that any other line. The reason may be selfish. The more time you are on board, the more you spend in the shops on board, or playing bingo, or losing your bucks in the casino. Just my opinion!. It sure seems that we could have stayed in Ketchikan a couple more hours and headed back at a normal cruising speed. Be sure and check those itineraries posted on the internet to find out how much time you get to spend on shore. After all, all the cruise lines go the same places generally. You aren't cruising to spend all your time on the ship. Those shore adventures are the focus and should be!

So it is. If you never take another cruise, grab your long johns and head for the last great wilderness. Then when you return home, enjoy your Treasured Pasts.

Stuart Pritchard