I'm often asked: "A cruise? I wouldn't have pegged you for a cruise guy Craig?"
And I respond: "Yes! It's super fun. It's a very different kind of traveling than strapping a backpack on your back and getting off the plane at 2am in Morocco and thinking: where am I? But it's fun none-the-less!"
I think there is room for all sorts of travel in this world. Sometimes solo. Sometimes with friends or family. Sometimes cheap and nitty gritty. Sometimes a bit more luxurious. And that's one of the fun things about a cruise, is there is an endless amount of food and activity to do... or you can just sit on the deck and watch the world go by. (Of course it helps when it's not 50 degrees outside with a howling wind flying past, which happened on a number of our days, but hey, what can you do?)
And the answer is a lot.
There's magic shows. The magician on this ship, Ben Siedman was really good. I definitely recommend you check out his positive show that genuninely made me say "how the heck did he do that?" about a dozen times.
There's movies under the stars. Teen clubs for the teens (Lily made a lot of new friends). There's comedy. Dancing. There's nature talks. Gambling. Swimming pools. Hot tubs (that inexplicably close at 9pm... um, hello, Hot tubbin on the late night is something that is distinctly missing). Jazz bands. Cover bands. Game shows. Food...
Lot's of food. Buffets, snack bars, ice cream. And 4 course dinners every night, should you want them. (And we did. My Dad was thinking the buffet was the best choice until I got him down there for the 4 course meal and he happily changed his mind. :). Who wouldn't? The food was actually really good. And you can eat as much as you want. Lobster... sure, give me some of that. Filet... you bet. I ate a lot. We all did. Though I tried not to get tooooo carried away. Which for me means 5 meals a day instead of 6!
There's karaoke! of course! And the "Voice of the Ocean" contest. Which is really a karaoke contest. I didn't really know how it worked, but figured I'd give it a shot on the 2nd night of the cruise. Room full of people singing karaoke standards to the 50+ crowd. Okay, 60+, it's a cruise after all. And I sign up, the last of the night. My song: "Ice Ice Baby". Now, when I do this at The Falls where I host karaoke, I stick the mic in peoples faces and have them sing the refrain, which conveniently goes: "Ice Ice Baby". I looked at that crowd and thought: This is not going to work here. I'll try something different. So I just asked everyone to sing it all together...
It was so much fun. The whole room was hoppin!
For the rest of the cruise people would come up to me and say "you're the ice ice baby guy!".
I actually got into the finals! Where you perform on the last night of the cruise in the main theater with a full band back up, horns and all. Which is super fun... except there's no ice ice baby! Nooooo! I ended up doing "I Love Rock And Roll". It was a lot of fun. They had the big Voice chairs, with differernt entertainers as the judges. I didn't win, but I had a great time and met some really cool people in the process of the rehearsals. (yep, this shit's for real!).
GLACIER TIME
One of the highlights of an Alaskan cruise is seeing these HUGE tidewater glaciers tumbling blocks of ice into the sea.
One of the reasons we took the smaller boat trip in Seward was because the big, 950 foot long Star Princess, isn't likely to get as close and personal to the glacier.
Well....
We came through the foggy fjord towards Hubbard Glacier. You couldn't see much. It was pretty cold and wet outside, but you could get out of the rain by being in the front of the promenade deck. I was a little disapointed... but then we started to run through ice in the water. Ice bergs in fact.
Woah woah woah, hold on Craig. You were on a cruise ship going through water filled with ICE BERGS?!?!?!?
I thought the same thing.
And at that point the naturalist came on and said "Some of you might be thinking that this is not a good idea. Well, these aren't the same kind of ice bergs that sank the Titanic. These are broken up pieces of a glacier that have fallen into the water. The ice berg that sank the Titanic broke off the greenland ice sheet that is 1,000 feet tall or more. So the ice was sticking over 100 feet out of the water." Essentially they hit a mountain all those years ago. These were at most 10 feet out of the water.
Still, very cool, and as it got colder outside, the fog lifted and there was the Hubbard Glacier. 6 1/2 miles wilde. 300 feet tall. I think it's the 2nd largest tidewater glacier in North America... And we got within 1 1/2 miles of it maybe. I mean, the ship kept getting closer and closer. And then the captain pivoted the thing around to one side, then back around to the other... It was surreal to see this big ship turning like that.
And the Glacier was calving pieces off into the fjord. Huge pieces falling off on the flanks, crashing into the water. It's really a site to see, and frankly no words really will do it justice.
The next day we hit Glacier National Park, and had a similar foggy approach to the Margerie Glacier and the Grand Pacific Glacier. Margerie is the young, active glacier. She's still growing, unlike most glaciers. And she dumped pieces off into the water that were the entire height of the glacier... which is 200+ feet. Huge chunks just dropping off with pops of thunder and crashes of water. It was impressive. Now, don't think they do this every 10 seconds. You might wait a few minutes, hear a pop, and look over to see chunks of ice (probably the size of house, but the scale is hard to capture). And sometimes the whole face for a hundred feet or more drops off. Margerie is 2 1/2 miles wide, and we were close enough to it that you couldn't see the whole things without turning your head. The ship pivoted again, swinging the butt even CLOSER to the glacier. It couldn't have been more than 1/2-3/4 a mile away. And there was a little, 40 foot long fishing boat cruising around between us and the glacier. That was cool for seeing the scale of it.
PORTS OF CALL
Part of cruising is going to the ports. And there are always shore excursions offered from the ship: ziplining, town tours, train trips etc. They are usually quite expensive, and a savvy traveler can get almost the same trip for cheaper if you book directly in town. However, in Alaska, all the big tours are so popular and filled up, the cruise ships can't really up charge much. It's Alaska, it's expensive.
We hit Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan. All small towns, even the captial of Juneau. Skagway is 800 people. That day there were nearly 10,000 cruisers that came to town because there were four ships. This doesn't lead to much of a natural experience of life in these towns... oh wait, yes it does, because in the summer it is all about the cruise ships. That's the season. That's the money. Good or bad, it is what it is. However, in Skagway, once you walk off the main drag, it's pretty quiet. I went on a hike up a ridge that overlooked the harbor with all the ships. It was pretty cool, and pretty quiet too.
Juneau was rained in, so much so that our plans pretty much fell apart. So instead, Dad and I sat in the Skywalker lounge (on the 18th floor of the ship. Yep. 18.) and played Caracassonne on my iPad. It's fun. Playing board games on a rainy day with Dad. Sounds like a good day to me!
Ketchikan was spent searching for a totem pole for Dad. He wanted something authentic and carved in Alaska. And I didn't know this before the trip, but this is the only area in the world where people carve totem poles! We found him one he liked and Myque and I got it for him. Dad and I also walked around town and saw Creek Street, which is the old red light district. The houses are all on stilts over the water, so the bootleggers during prohibition could get the booze in and out without being caught!
All 5 of us went to a Lumberjack show. It was good cheesy fun. Chainsaw cutting. Axe throwing. Tree climbing. It's actually a professional sport! Though this was a show for entertainment and laughs.
Ketchikan is one of the rainiest places in the United States. And you know what kind of weather we had... no rain! Yep, we had rain all over this trip, but not here. That, is pretty lucky I'd say!
THE INSIDE PASSAGE
Part of this trip is in the Inside Passage. Which is a channel that runs behind the islands of the Alaska and British Columbian coast. It's fascinating because for most of the trip, you could barely feel the ship moving. Granted, it's HUGE. However, in the open ocean, you could feel it rocking back and forth. And at the dance club a couple nights it was so wild you could hardly stand in one place while dancing. The ship was dancing I guess!
But a lot of the trip the ship wasn't rocking at all. It was super calm and smooth. Pretty surreal.
On top of that, the passage is narrow. Super narrow. You can see land on both sides, and honstely, if they spun the ship sideways, I bet it would run aground on both shores. It's pretty wild to be slipping past little villages on a moving skyscraper. Standing on the top deck is awesome in those situations. There were times where one side was sunny, and the other was foggy as we cruised along.
As we headed south the temperature got warmer and warmer. From the 50's to the 70's by the time we reached the end.
So on the last night, we could stand outside at sunset (an actual sunset! Usually it was cloudy or hidden). And watch a towns lights slide by on the coast. A nice place to be with my dad.
DOING OUR OWN THING, TOGETHER
One thing that cruises allow for, is travel with people, but where you aren't tied to everyone. Given the different needs and desires of all of us, it worked out well. We would grab most breakfasts together. And every dinner. (The 2 hour dinners were a highlight). But during the days, we might hang out or we might not. I know my brother needed to rest and chillax, and he and Rachel enjoyed doing that. Lily ran around with her new friends, and would join us here and there for celebrations and activities. Dad would read overlooking the ocean. I'd run around doing stuff all day and dance until 2 in the morning every night, cause hey, being on a cruise ship is like being at a feet first party! (That's the DJ/Teambuilding company I work for, for those of you who don't know). I actually led the Cupid Shuffle and the Wobble multiple times with all the fun folks dancing.
I always enjoyed the times I got to spend with everyone, and truthfully wish it would've worked out to spend a bit more time with them. Either checking out the glaciers or what not. We did catch the comedy and magic shows on various nights, and that was really fun. And as mentioned, 2 hour dinners. Like every dinner was that long! We celebrated Dad's bday for one of them. And Myque and Rachel's 11th anniversary at another. Both those events happen in the summer, so it's close enough! :)
CRUISIN CONCLUSION
This was a trip long planned and long looked forward to. It took a heck of a lot of logistics to get right. And compared to most of my trips was more expensive. And it was totally worth it.
To be able to travel is always wonderful.
To be able to travel with my family, people I love very much, is priceless.
So much of this trip was nice times with them, chatting about whatever. Seeing sites. Eating food. Taking pictures of stunning scenery. Perhaps it doesn't seem like as exciting a travel update as other ones from the past, but it's wonderful in it's own ways. And every time I saw how happy my Dad was when he was showing off his totem pole, or seeing the glaciers, or drivin the RV, or skipping rocks -- I captured it in my heart, because that doesn't show up in a photograph.
CraigO
PS: One more to come…
And I respond: "Yes! It's super fun. It's a very different kind of traveling than strapping a backpack on your back and getting off the plane at 2am in Morocco and thinking: where am I? But it's fun none-the-less!"
I think there is room for all sorts of travel in this world. Sometimes solo. Sometimes with friends or family. Sometimes cheap and nitty gritty. Sometimes a bit more luxurious. And that's one of the fun things about a cruise, is there is an endless amount of food and activity to do... or you can just sit on the deck and watch the world go by. (Of course it helps when it's not 50 degrees outside with a howling wind flying past, which happened on a number of our days, but hey, what can you do?)
And the answer is a lot.
There's magic shows. The magician on this ship, Ben Siedman was really good. I definitely recommend you check out his positive show that genuninely made me say "how the heck did he do that?" about a dozen times.
There's movies under the stars. Teen clubs for the teens (Lily made a lot of new friends). There's comedy. Dancing. There's nature talks. Gambling. Swimming pools. Hot tubs (that inexplicably close at 9pm... um, hello, Hot tubbin on the late night is something that is distinctly missing). Jazz bands. Cover bands. Game shows. Food...
Lot's of food. Buffets, snack bars, ice cream. And 4 course dinners every night, should you want them. (And we did. My Dad was thinking the buffet was the best choice until I got him down there for the 4 course meal and he happily changed his mind. :). Who wouldn't? The food was actually really good. And you can eat as much as you want. Lobster... sure, give me some of that. Filet... you bet. I ate a lot. We all did. Though I tried not to get tooooo carried away. Which for me means 5 meals a day instead of 6!
There's karaoke! of course! And the "Voice of the Ocean" contest. Which is really a karaoke contest. I didn't really know how it worked, but figured I'd give it a shot on the 2nd night of the cruise. Room full of people singing karaoke standards to the 50+ crowd. Okay, 60+, it's a cruise after all. And I sign up, the last of the night. My song: "Ice Ice Baby". Now, when I do this at The Falls where I host karaoke, I stick the mic in peoples faces and have them sing the refrain, which conveniently goes: "Ice Ice Baby". I looked at that crowd and thought: This is not going to work here. I'll try something different. So I just asked everyone to sing it all together...
It was so much fun. The whole room was hoppin!
For the rest of the cruise people would come up to me and say "you're the ice ice baby guy!".
I actually got into the finals! Where you perform on the last night of the cruise in the main theater with a full band back up, horns and all. Which is super fun... except there's no ice ice baby! Nooooo! I ended up doing "I Love Rock And Roll". It was a lot of fun. They had the big Voice chairs, with differernt entertainers as the judges. I didn't win, but I had a great time and met some really cool people in the process of the rehearsals. (yep, this shit's for real!).
GLACIER TIME
One of the highlights of an Alaskan cruise is seeing these HUGE tidewater glaciers tumbling blocks of ice into the sea.
One of the reasons we took the smaller boat trip in Seward was because the big, 950 foot long Star Princess, isn't likely to get as close and personal to the glacier.
Well....
We came through the foggy fjord towards Hubbard Glacier. You couldn't see much. It was pretty cold and wet outside, but you could get out of the rain by being in the front of the promenade deck. I was a little disapointed... but then we started to run through ice in the water. Ice bergs in fact.
Woah woah woah, hold on Craig. You were on a cruise ship going through water filled with ICE BERGS?!?!?!?
I thought the same thing.
And at that point the naturalist came on and said "Some of you might be thinking that this is not a good idea. Well, these aren't the same kind of ice bergs that sank the Titanic. These are broken up pieces of a glacier that have fallen into the water. The ice berg that sank the Titanic broke off the greenland ice sheet that is 1,000 feet tall or more. So the ice was sticking over 100 feet out of the water." Essentially they hit a mountain all those years ago. These were at most 10 feet out of the water.
Still, very cool, and as it got colder outside, the fog lifted and there was the Hubbard Glacier. 6 1/2 miles wilde. 300 feet tall. I think it's the 2nd largest tidewater glacier in North America... And we got within 1 1/2 miles of it maybe. I mean, the ship kept getting closer and closer. And then the captain pivoted the thing around to one side, then back around to the other... It was surreal to see this big ship turning like that.
And the Glacier was calving pieces off into the fjord. Huge pieces falling off on the flanks, crashing into the water. It's really a site to see, and frankly no words really will do it justice.
The next day we hit Glacier National Park, and had a similar foggy approach to the Margerie Glacier and the Grand Pacific Glacier. Margerie is the young, active glacier. She's still growing, unlike most glaciers. And she dumped pieces off into the water that were the entire height of the glacier... which is 200+ feet. Huge chunks just dropping off with pops of thunder and crashes of water. It was impressive. Now, don't think they do this every 10 seconds. You might wait a few minutes, hear a pop, and look over to see chunks of ice (probably the size of house, but the scale is hard to capture). And sometimes the whole face for a hundred feet or more drops off. Margerie is 2 1/2 miles wide, and we were close enough to it that you couldn't see the whole things without turning your head. The ship pivoted again, swinging the butt even CLOSER to the glacier. It couldn't have been more than 1/2-3/4 a mile away. And there was a little, 40 foot long fishing boat cruising around between us and the glacier. That was cool for seeing the scale of it.
PORTS OF CALL
Part of cruising is going to the ports. And there are always shore excursions offered from the ship: ziplining, town tours, train trips etc. They are usually quite expensive, and a savvy traveler can get almost the same trip for cheaper if you book directly in town. However, in Alaska, all the big tours are so popular and filled up, the cruise ships can't really up charge much. It's Alaska, it's expensive.
We hit Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan. All small towns, even the captial of Juneau. Skagway is 800 people. That day there were nearly 10,000 cruisers that came to town because there were four ships. This doesn't lead to much of a natural experience of life in these towns... oh wait, yes it does, because in the summer it is all about the cruise ships. That's the season. That's the money. Good or bad, it is what it is. However, in Skagway, once you walk off the main drag, it's pretty quiet. I went on a hike up a ridge that overlooked the harbor with all the ships. It was pretty cool, and pretty quiet too.
Juneau was rained in, so much so that our plans pretty much fell apart. So instead, Dad and I sat in the Skywalker lounge (on the 18th floor of the ship. Yep. 18.) and played Caracassonne on my iPad. It's fun. Playing board games on a rainy day with Dad. Sounds like a good day to me!
Ketchikan was spent searching for a totem pole for Dad. He wanted something authentic and carved in Alaska. And I didn't know this before the trip, but this is the only area in the world where people carve totem poles! We found him one he liked and Myque and I got it for him. Dad and I also walked around town and saw Creek Street, which is the old red light district. The houses are all on stilts over the water, so the bootleggers during prohibition could get the booze in and out without being caught!
All 5 of us went to a Lumberjack show. It was good cheesy fun. Chainsaw cutting. Axe throwing. Tree climbing. It's actually a professional sport! Though this was a show for entertainment and laughs.
Ketchikan is one of the rainiest places in the United States. And you know what kind of weather we had... no rain! Yep, we had rain all over this trip, but not here. That, is pretty lucky I'd say!
THE INSIDE PASSAGE
Part of this trip is in the Inside Passage. Which is a channel that runs behind the islands of the Alaska and British Columbian coast. It's fascinating because for most of the trip, you could barely feel the ship moving. Granted, it's HUGE. However, in the open ocean, you could feel it rocking back and forth. And at the dance club a couple nights it was so wild you could hardly stand in one place while dancing. The ship was dancing I guess!
But a lot of the trip the ship wasn't rocking at all. It was super calm and smooth. Pretty surreal.
On top of that, the passage is narrow. Super narrow. You can see land on both sides, and honstely, if they spun the ship sideways, I bet it would run aground on both shores. It's pretty wild to be slipping past little villages on a moving skyscraper. Standing on the top deck is awesome in those situations. There were times where one side was sunny, and the other was foggy as we cruised along.
As we headed south the temperature got warmer and warmer. From the 50's to the 70's by the time we reached the end.
So on the last night, we could stand outside at sunset (an actual sunset! Usually it was cloudy or hidden). And watch a towns lights slide by on the coast. A nice place to be with my dad.
DOING OUR OWN THING, TOGETHER
One thing that cruises allow for, is travel with people, but where you aren't tied to everyone. Given the different needs and desires of all of us, it worked out well. We would grab most breakfasts together. And every dinner. (The 2 hour dinners were a highlight). But during the days, we might hang out or we might not. I know my brother needed to rest and chillax, and he and Rachel enjoyed doing that. Lily ran around with her new friends, and would join us here and there for celebrations and activities. Dad would read overlooking the ocean. I'd run around doing stuff all day and dance until 2 in the morning every night, cause hey, being on a cruise ship is like being at a feet first party! (That's the DJ/Teambuilding company I work for, for those of you who don't know). I actually led the Cupid Shuffle and the Wobble multiple times with all the fun folks dancing.
I always enjoyed the times I got to spend with everyone, and truthfully wish it would've worked out to spend a bit more time with them. Either checking out the glaciers or what not. We did catch the comedy and magic shows on various nights, and that was really fun. And as mentioned, 2 hour dinners. Like every dinner was that long! We celebrated Dad's bday for one of them. And Myque and Rachel's 11th anniversary at another. Both those events happen in the summer, so it's close enough! :)
CRUISIN CONCLUSION
This was a trip long planned and long looked forward to. It took a heck of a lot of logistics to get right. And compared to most of my trips was more expensive. And it was totally worth it.
To be able to travel is always wonderful.
To be able to travel with my family, people I love very much, is priceless.
So much of this trip was nice times with them, chatting about whatever. Seeing sites. Eating food. Taking pictures of stunning scenery. Perhaps it doesn't seem like as exciting a travel update as other ones from the past, but it's wonderful in it's own ways. And every time I saw how happy my Dad was when he was showing off his totem pole, or seeing the glaciers, or drivin the RV, or skipping rocks -- I captured it in my heart, because that doesn't show up in a photograph.
CraigO
PS: One more to come…
No comments:
Post a Comment