Juneau Alaska
This was another beautiful sunny day. We did not have tour planned for today, we went off on our own.
Because we were not in a hurry we had breakfast in the dining room. For the very first time we were alone at the table. It was different not to be meeting new people, but breakfast was great as usual. Then we left the ship and began our walk down town. There is a wonderful new walkway all along the waters edge. It is just great for walking, wide and comfortable and scenic. This is a great improvement since our last visit.
We went to the Red Dog Saloon and then we continued up the hill to visit the Alaska Capital building. We just happened to learn that they gave tours. It was a great tour and now we can say that we have toured all of the capital buildings on the US west coast. We walked back to the ship with a lot of store stops along the way.
By the time we had returned to the ship we had walked for over three hours and my blood sugar was down to 4.6. We went upstairs to lunch because I wanted to eat as soon as possible, and we were so thirsty.
After lunch we came back here and I had a nop and Ken went to get some sun.
We got ready for dinner and down we went. It was a fun dinner, this is a great group. After dinner all eight of us went together to the big production show “I’ve got the music”. It was great and we all sang alone and clapped and just had fun.
After the show was over Penny and Glen and Ken and I went to Skywalkers and had a Mai tai while we enjoyed the sail away views. We had a great visit and what a nice way to end the day.

The Red Dog Saloon in Juneau Alaska

When we got back from the tour we went shopping. We roamed around the shops amid the mobs of people . When a small community has 4 LARGE cruise ships visit in the same day things tend to get nuts.
With our goodies in hand we returned to the ship in time for lunch. We went to the International dining room and we were seated with 2 interesting couples. One was from Edmonton and they had cruised a little and one couple from Colorado who had cruised a lot. I got the impression that they had been everywhere. Very nice, down to earth people.
After lunch we changed and went topside to get some sun. Soon it was time to get ready for the evening. We had surf and turf and because I had put Ken’s birthday down as a celebration they brought a cake and sang to him. Quite surprisingly they were very good singers. We shared the cake with the group. It was a very small cake but there were 8 bites.
The show this evening was amazing. There was an illusionist, Darren Romeo, and he had us completely confounded. I wish I knew how these guys do the things they do.
After dinner we changed our shoes, walked the deck and had a speciality coffee in the lobby bar. This was a beautiful moonlit night and we thought it was a perfect ending for a perfect day. The sun set at 10:25 so the evening was short and the day was very long. We were very tired but very happy as we drifted off to sleep.

Lighthouse number 207,
What a wonderful day this has been.
They kept telling us that this is a rain forest and to remember that rain is the norm, after all they get over 13 feet of rain a year and they went on and on, preparing us . Well guess what!!???
The sun was shining like a new penny when we woke this morning. Amazing!! The phone rang with our wake up call at 5:15.I took a picture of the amazing sunny morning from our room.
We dressed quickly and went to deck 16 to get a few pictures of Ketchikan and then down to Horizon Court for breakfast. It was surprising to see so many people up so early. We sat with a very nice couple…Sam and Sylvia from Colorado.
We came back to our stateroom and Ken packed his backpack with our warm jackets and ponchos. We could not believe our luck with the weather so we were being prepared just in case. Disembarkation went smoothly and we boarded the bus that would take us to The Totem Princess , our little boat that would take us on our shore excursion. Our bus driver Lisa was lots of fun and very informative.
There were 26 of us on this very early tour. It was so perfect that it is hard to describe.The crew was so knowledgable and friendly. They provided us with binoculars and drinks when we boarded. The sun was shining and the water was like glass. We saw loads of eagles and several eagle nests. The crew helped us spot them and told all about the homes we were passing and about the history of the area. We got wonderful pictures of Totem Bight Park. We also saw historic Loggerville-Floating Town,the Ward Cove Cannery, and the Tongass National Forrest.
The crowning moment was the view of the lighthouse.at Guard Island. The sun lit it perfectly and an eagle even swooped around it just for us.
After cruising around the light house we were treated to a wonderful snack of smoked salmon dip with crackers as well as fruit and cookies and more beverages. We even got an opportunity to sit in the captains chair and steer and pose for pictures.
Then it was back to shore and the ride back to The Diamond Princess. What a perfect tour this was. We could not have asked for a better day or a better excursion.

First real Day of our adventure,
We decided to have breakfast in the dining room since it is a sea day and we do not have to rush.
We met some very nice people and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast.
Then we explored a little and I was able to get my magnet of the Diamond Princess. I also saw the vegetable carving. They are amazing always.
Next we attended the Scholarship at Sea program and Sammy told us a lot about the ports we will visit in Alaska
For lunch we went to the Savoy Dining Room and we had the English Pub Lunch. The fish and chips are so good and those were my July fries.
We listened to some of the Naturalists presentation and we decided to go to the Champagne Art auction. They are always so interesting. You learn a lot about art and some artists and it is a great time and place for people watching, and beside they serve lots of champagne .Much to our surprise and pleasure Ken’s name was drawn for the raffle.
Then it was time to get ready for the first Formal night. This is the night for the Captain’s welcome and the Champagne waterfall.
When we arrived at our table we were surprised to see that they had added 2 more chairs. We are now a table for eight. Did I mention that we are at table number seven? Our lucky number. Anyway the diner partners are Jim and Jerry from Michigan, Bob and Hilary from Arizona and Glen and Penny from New Jersey. It seems to be a very nice group. Glen and Penny are cruise virgins.:-)
After diner we picked up a glass of memosa and headed for the theatre. The atrium was so crowded that we only had a peek at the waterfall and continued on our way.
We got good seats for the show, finished our champagne and people watched until it was time for the show. The production show was called “ Do You Wanna Dance” As usual it was high energy and included lots of special effects and amazing costuming.
When the show was over we went to our room and changed our clothes. Ken had enough of his tie and I had enough of the high heels. W e walked the deck for awhile but it was windy and cold so we went to Explorers Lounge to wait for the performance of Dan Bennet. He was even better than last evening and we had a good laugh.
By then it was almost eleven o’clock and we were tired, it was a busy day. We went to Horizon Court, got a glass of tea and a cookie and we called it a day. The clock is set for 5:15 we have a very early tour on Monday morning.
First real Day of our adventure,
We decided to have breakfast in the dining room since it is a sea day and we do not have to rush.
We met some very nice people and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast.
Then we explored a little and I was able to get my magnet of the Diamond Princess. I also saw the vegetable carving. They are amazing always.
Next we attended the Scholarship at Sea program and Sammy told us a lot about the ports we will visit in Alaska
For lunch we went to the Savoy Dining Room and we had the English Pub Lunch. The fish and chips are so good and those were my July fries.
We listened to some of the Naturalists presentation and we decided to go to the Champagne Art auction. They are always so interesting. You learn a lot about art and some artists and it is a great time and place for people watching, and beside they serve lots of champagne .Much to our surprise and pleasure Ken’s name was drawn for the raffle.
Then it was time to get ready for the first Formal night. This is the night for the Captain’s welcome and the Champagne waterfall.
When we arrived at our table we were surprised to see that they had added 2 more chairs. We are now a table for eight. Did I mention that we are at table number seven? Our lucky number. Anyway the diner partners are Jim and Jerry from Michigan, Bob and Hilary from Arizona and Glen and Penny from New Jersey. It seems to be a very nice group. Glen and Penny are cruise virgins.:-)
After diner we picked up a glass of memosa and headed for the theatre. The atrium was so crowded that we only had a peek at the waterfall and continued on our way.
We got good seats for the show, finished our champagne and people watched until it was time for the show. The production show was called “ Do You Wanna Dance” As usual it was high energy and included lots of special effects and amazing costuming.
When the show was over we went to our room and changed our clothes. Ken had enough of his tie and I had enough of the high heels. W e walked the deck for awhile but it was windy and cold so we went to Explorers Lounge to wait for the performance of Dan Bennet. He was even better than last evening and we had a good laugh.
By then it was almost eleven o’clock and we were tired, it was a busy day. We went to Horizon Court, got a glass of tea and a cookie and we called it a day. The clock is set for 5:15 we have a very early tour on Monday morning.

Our Cruise begins

Wow!! What a fantastic beginning to our Alaskan Adventure!
We left Abbotsford ahead of schedule and the traffic was almost nonexistent. We parked the car, called a cab and away we went. We arrived at Canada place about eleven and we got right through the line ups and we were on board having lunch at Horizon Court at noon.
It was a glorious warm sunny day and Vancouver was magnificent as usual. We had lots of time to roam around the ship and find everything.
We had 2 surprises… our room is great and it said it was fully obstructed but that is so not true. We have a wonderful view straight out. It is obstructed if you look down only. So we are very pleased E205 on the Diamond Princess is a great room
The second surprise was getting a tour of the SPA. We have just walked through other times but we happened upon a tour and we are amazed at how much is available there. You can get pampered beyond anything we could have imagined. If you wanted to you could spend your entire cruise in the spa.
As usual dinner was great. We have 2 couples from The Michigan area as table mates, and they seem to be a lot of fun.
We went to the Welcome show in the Princess theatre. They had a fantastic juggling comedian and his name is Dan Bennett. We will definitely go to see his full show for sure.
After the show we walked a little and then got some ice tea and a cookie and came back to our room to call it a night. It was a beautiful night and the moon and the sea were glorious. The description of sea conditions is “Smooth and rippled” and it really was. No movement at all.

North to Alaska!!

The packing is well underway. As usual the problem is "what do I take?"
Because we are not flying we can take all that we would like to take. But we are trying to keep it down to one suitcase each because we will be flying when we go to South America and this should be an opportunity to practice "downsizing" so to speak. I was doing fine and then last night Ken asked me if I was taking enough warm clothes. So another sweater got added and who knows what will get tossed in before tomorrow morning arrives.
The last time we were in Alaska it was so warm that we needed shorts which we didn't have so it really is a guessing game.

I'm so excited.
North to Alaska
We're going North
The rush is on!!