I’ve been a lot of places, and visited a good portion of the U.S. However, Alaska and the Pacific Northwest was missing from my ‘places I’ve visited’ map! One of these days I’m going to write a complete trip report about my amazing road trip up the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) through northern California, Oregon, and Washington. For now, I’m going to focus on sharing the Alaska portion of the trip.

Alaska is hands-down one of the most beautiful parts of the United States! I opted to explore the state via a cruise on the Norwegian Bliss cruise ship. It was the inaugural sailing of the Bliss, so the excitement of sailing a brand-new ship only enhanced the experience of visiting Alaska. Our 7-day journey took us to the ports of Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway as well as cruised Sawyer Glacier and spent an evening in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

1st I will say that aside from the itinerary, the ship was absolutely beautiful! I was happy that I chose this mode of transportation to Alaska; NCL Bliss is a destination in and of itself. It would probably take multiple blogs to write about all the fabulous features on this ship, so I’ll just share a few highlights:

  • Balcony cabin – Alaska is generally a more expensive cruise than your typical Caribbean, so some people choose to go with an interior or oceanview cabin, but I highly recommend a balcony or suite. The fresh Alaska air coupled with the beautiful views make a balcony a must-have for an Alaskan cruise in my opinion!

 

 

 

  • Observation Lounge –Observation Lounge is an amazing place to relax and enjoy the beautiful Alaskan scenery. The Observation Lounge boasts floor-to-ceiling windows, soft chairs and sofas, a buffet area, and a bar. It’s a great place to wind down after an active day in Alaska, or to enjoy the sea days as you cruise through the glaciers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Seafood Buffet – I. LOVE. SEAFOOD! Now with that said, it’s only logical that 1 of my favorite things on an Alaskan cruise would be the crab leg buffet. Thankfully, I’ve lost my pics of my plates piled high with sumptuous crab legs (don’t want y’all seeing how gluttonous I can be), but here’s what I started with…if you love seafood, especially crab legs, take an Alaskan cruise on the Bliss!

I guess enough about the ship…now let me tell you about Alaska! Typically, I do a great deal of research and have a detailed plan before I reach a destination, but due to other obligations, I didn’t have a solid plan. In the weeks prior to the trip, I’d been overwhelmed with planning for my mom’s 70th birthday celebration. Thankfully, I’d spoken with quite a few clients who’ve done Alaskan cruises and I remembered many of their feedback about their favorite activities. Our first port was Ketchikan. Ketchikan is a super-cute little town that embodies exactly what you might think of an Alaskan town. It’s known for its rich history, Native American totem poles, and wildlife, including salmon and black bears. We didn’t do an excursion or anything, but really enjoyed checking out the shops and restaurants around the pier. Although I didn’t do an excursion on that trip, on my next Alaskan cruise (which is already booked!), I plan to do the Bering Sea Crab Fisherman’s Tour. I can’t wait!

From Ketchikan, we cruised Sawyer Glacier and headed for Juneau and Skagway. It was unusually warm during our cruise, about 60o, so it was really incredible to see snow-capped mountains. The views were definitely reminders of why you’ll want a balcony on your Alaskan cruise.

Next stop was Juneau. We did the Mount Roberts Tramway which takes you up 1800 feet via cable car to the Mountain House. The views from the cable car are incredible. Our 4,000-passenger ship looks like a toy boat from that altitude. The clouds looked like cotton and you could clearly see the snow atop the mountains. When we reached the top, we found lots of activities. We enjoyed a short film at the Chilkat Theater about the Tlingit people, the native people of the area. We had a great time checking out the Nature Center, and the food at the Timberline restaurant was delish!

From Juneau, we continued to through the Inside Passage to Skagway. From our balcony, and our window table in the dining room, we could see what I referred to as little mini-glaciers, as well as the major snow and ice on the mountain. We could also see the tracks from the glacier excursions.

I’m a major wimp when it comes to cold temps, but I’m going to put on my big girl panties…and a heavy coat…and do a glacier excursion on my next Alaska cruise! They also have dogsled glacier excursions which looks like so much fun!

Definitely next time…but since I wasn’t prepared to be all in with the snow like that, I opted for a warmer excursion. LOL I took the White Pass Railway and it did not disappoint! The cars are all vintage cars with comfortable seating, plenty of space, and cool platforms between the train cars where you can go out to get fresh mountain air and take pics of the beautiful scenery. The White Pass Railway goes up almost 3,000 feet, crosses the border into Canada, then comes back down. It weaves through the mountains on extremely narrow trails, through caves, and over streams. You can see the old gold mines, and the areas where so many people lost their lives trying to secure their fortunes in the mines. There are old trestle bridges and beautiful waterfalls…BREATHTAKING!

Our final port of call was Victoria, BC. Now we’d had unseasonably warm weather the entire trip, but the weather stopped being kind in Vancouver. It was cold and rainy, and generally nasty. I wasn’t motivated to explore the city far beyond the pier. My only desire was to go get some poutine. 😊 I snapped a pic of this super-cute dolphin topiary, grabbed a great poutine at a cute little café that served poutine and ice cream. Poutine and ice cream in the same place…I think I briefly fell in love!

I ended that trip with about 400 pics. One of these days, I will get all of my trip pics uploaded to our GTG online photo gallery. It was pretty hard to pull out this small handful of pics for this blog, but I wanted to add a visual to share how much I truly enjoyed my Alaskan cruise. I’m excited to do it again in 2020! If you’d like to join me, you can book your cabin HERE.