My grandfather decided to take our family with him on a cruise to Alaska for his birthday. Since the ship would be making stops in Canada my entire family needed to have passports made. Luckily, I still had a valid one from when I went on a mission trip to Mexico. We also needed to book our flight to Seattle and schedule which excursions we wanted to go on in the different ports.

Seattle

After our plane had landed in Seattle we took a bus provided by the cruise line from the airport into Seattle. As we drove along we were given a sort of mini-tour. We saw the stadiums where the Seahawks and Mariners play as well as different important buildings in Seattle. Once we got to our hotel, which was very nice since it used to be a Four Seasons, we dropped off our stuff and headed down to the seafront to see the old market and have lunch. At the market there were shops where once a customer ordered a fish it was picked by workers on the ground level and hurled up to the workers in the actual shop where it was caught, cleaned, and wrapped for the customer.

The Cruise

The Ship

Our ship was the M.S. Amsterdam. We were staying in the second to top deck. My Parents had their own room, my grandparents their own, and my younger brother and I shared on with my uncle. The room were very nice and each had its own patio for us to go outside and watch the landscape go by and take pictures. They had also set up cameras looking off the bow of the ship and other areas of the ship so people could tune into certain channels on the T.V. and see what was going on without having to hike across the ship.

There were various activities available on the ship. There were basketball courts, tennis courts, shuffleboard courts, swimming pools, and a hot tub. My brother and I enjoyed going up to the basketball and tennis courts and goofing off while my parents relaxed on the deck and read. We also discovered that we could make shuffleboard very competitive, something I don’t think happens in the retirement homes. We only ventured into the pool once. Even though it was the middle of summer, it was still pretty cold outside and we two boys from Texas didn’t like it very much.

Juneau

Our first port was in Juneau, the capitol of the state. We got off the ship and looked around the city for a while before going on our first excursion. We went white water rafting. It was a lot of fun. The place we took off from was right next to a glacier and the water had glacial suit in it giving it a very light green color. Later we would see where another river flowed into ours and the was a stark color difference between the water we were in and the water flowing in. We saw where there was once a flood and a river bank had given way dragging peoples empty cars in with it. The cars were still there, all rusted out.
After the rafting trip we went whale watching. We saw several whales and a bunch of sea lions.

Sitka

Our next port was Sitka. Here we went to see the Raptor Rehabilitation Center where the help injured birds of prey get healthy again and release them back into the wild. When we arrived a man was giving a presentation holding a giant bald eagle. We saw many other types of birds and hike around the park they were in for a while.

Ketchikan

Our last stop in Alaska was Ketchikan. Here after a slight delay due to weather we took a float plane trip through the misty fjords. We saw a volcanic plug, a frozen lake, a black bear, and many other amazing sights. We landed out on a lake where they had set up a small dock for people to get out on a stretch their legs. On the flight back the pilot actually switched the controls over to my brother who was sitting in the front seat next to him and him fly for a little while. (Note: My brother was 13 and did not have a pilot’s license.)

Victoria, B.C.

Our last stop before going back to Seattle was in Victoria, British Columbia. We would only be staying in this port for a short while so my familt decided to just walk around the city. It was very beautiful and get to see the parlimentary building and then had dinner at a local italian restaurant.