Woke up at 6AM to looking out the window as we passed under the Lions Gate Bridge heading into port. What a sad sight to see, coming home. Haley cried saying she didn’t want to get off the ship. We had a good breakfast in the buffet area and prepared to get off the ship at 8:30AM. We didn’t actually get off until about 8:50AM and then waited about 8 minutes for customs and were free to go. Our bags were all there waiting. Way easier than I expected. We took the Seabus and bus back to my parents place. It was all easy but next time I’ll take the $20 taxi ride. It just seemed like a fun thing to do, take the seabus with the kids.

For dinner we had Campbells Chunky Soup – eats like a meal though. Sigh, we sure were spoiled and it’s sad to be home. We have 2000 pictures and 90 minutes of video though to go through now. The memories will last a lifetime.

Cruise Notes
Celebrity Cruise Lines are awesome.
Bring walkie talkies to communicate with others so you don’t walk around for hours looking for people
Bring your own booze on, 6 packs and small bottles of booze will save you money
Take advantage of the kids factory
Bring lots of money - some excursions can be very expensive - we didn't do those ones
Use the dining room often
Eat as much as you can and enjoy it
You can never take too many pictures – bring lots of memory cards – back them up if you can using a laptop
Bring really good binoculars
Get a room with a window
We didn’t care that our room was down below
Go to the midnight buffet
Get to the departure port to board early to board early
Get back on the boat last – enjoy the port
Get the professional pictures taken – even if you don’t buy them
Spend time outside watching for wildlife – we saw grey whales, orcas and lots of dolphins
Try do your tour planning from shore – haggle for a better price
Sleep when you get home

It’s Thursday morning and I had almost 4 hours sleep before racing out of bed to head to a lineup for getting the kids into tonight’s slumber party. I got there 45 minutes early for a 9AM opening. Just like trying to get tickets to a concert. We really wanted the kids in this party from 7PM to 1AM and it’s all free. I’m a tad tired. When the girl showed up at 8:45AM, she was amazed I was there and told me she will sign up the kids. Turns out I didn’t need to be there that early, no one else was.

Today was a day at sea. Linda did bingo 3 times. The prize was $2300 and she never won. The kids played in the pool a bit and John and I looked at pictures. The kids also had a talent show which we went to, Both Carter and Haley were in it. The other day they were all priates running around the ship singing "We are the Pirates !!". Everybody that was relaxing sure heard them.

We watched a couple of guys sculpt fruit and veggies and were amazed what they could come up right before your eyes in just a couple of minutes.

Our final dinner was more tenderloin beef with a chocolate sundae for dessert. We walked around and went to the nightclub and packed our stuff. When we picked the kids up at 12:45AM, Haley was a sleep on the floor and Carter was asleep at a desk. Too cute.

Tonight is the night we tip the room attendants, waiters. You think we wouldn’t have to tip considering the price but we do. It is optional however. The service was exceptional and they really do spoil you.The Kids fun factory was the best. The staff were great and our kids loved it. Carter never wanted to leave. They take the kids for free 9 hours a day and then for $6 an hour, they’ll take them even longer. We just wanted to spend some time with them too :)

Happy 49th Anniversary Mom and Dad
We went to the buffet this morning for breakfast. This time we had the waffles on the outside deck and were they good. Covered in strawberry and whipped cream. Yummm. Linda played bingo and I did a scavenger hunt with the kids. We raced around the ship for 45 minutes trying to get various items like a toothpick, autographs of staff, safety pin, postcard, birthday card etc.. Well we did excellent but arrived 4 minutes late and were disqualified. I was disappointed but mostly just sweaty and hot from all that running around. Well it was time for lunch in the buffet and then off to Ketchikan. There were 4 other ships at port so we had to tender in and wait for one of them to leave before the ship docked. Tendering was easy and fast. Mom accidently went to the wrong location and I once again found myself running for another 45 minutes up and down, front to back looking for her.

We didn’t know what to do so we hired 2 cabs for the 10 of us for $200 for an hour and a half tour of the town and rainforest. Being from Vancouver and a camper, seeing a rainforest isn’t the top of my list. The totem poles around the park were 150 years old and cool but it was raining and we didn’t stay long. Our first and only experience of rain. One of the highlights of the tour was visiting the smallest Wal-Mart. The tour guides thought we were freaks having them pull into a Wal-Mart so John and I could do a photo-op. We also had them take us to the fire dept. so John could buy a shirt. The tour was OK – I wish we did the Duck bus/boat tour instead as the kids were bored in the taxi vans. The town was small but neat. The creek street shopping area was quaint. All the shops on stilts around a creek. The creek was fast moving with tons of salmon swimming up it and we even saw a seal swimming with them having a nice salmon lunch. We took a tram ride up the side of a cliff to go for a beer up top. I dragged Carter around a few shops and picked up another 6 pack for the boat. We went into a bar and as long as Carter didn’t sit at a stool in the bar, he could come in. That’s a great rule I wish Vancouver would adopt.

I think you need to spend the big bucks and go on a float place to see the whales and bears. Unfortunately, we didn't have the resources to do that but that's the way to go in Ketchikan.

We had another fabulous dinner and the staff sang Happy Anniversary to my parents. I had some prime rib beef dinner with Yorkshire pudding which was done to perfection. Just love it when the meat melts in your mouth and you don’t really have to chew even. We saw the evening show and it was hilarious. The comedian told cruise jokes for 45 minutes. Making fun of cruising and the Alaska ports – we laughed non stop. Linda put the kids to bed and I went out with my mom to the casino and then to the main dining room at 12:15AM for the midnight spectacular food presentation. Everything was edible from the ice sculptures to animal shaped food and desserts. It took the staff 45 hours preparing for it. Chocolate dipped strawberrys that looked like mice, weird jello things, cheesecake and they had my new favorite food. Beef Wellington. Wow – I went back 2 more times and was so blown away by how delicious it all was. I wasn’t even hungry after our huge dinner. I then went to the nightclub where John and Shelly were and hung out there until 3:15AM.

Hubbard Glacier

Woke up to look out the window to see us heading towards the Hubbard Glacier. Beautiful mountains right at the sea going straight up. I was in awe of the beauty of just entering the Yakutat bay area. Once we saw the glacier you just wanted to clap and give it a standing ovation. Going through the iceberg filled bay to get close to the massive wall of ice was just a phenomenal experience. The ice is a moving river 13 miles long and 400 feet high at some points. That’s huge !!. Ice takes about 400 years to move through the 13 miles. Listening to the ice crack and fall (calving) into the ocean was like hearing a cannon or thunder. The skies were blue and the temperatures were warm and watching huge chunks of ice the size of houses fall was just the best experience. Sometimes the chunks are the size of buildings creating massive waves and icebergs. To me, watching this and hearing the sounds, I knew why people come to Alaska. It was a thing of beauty and I could have spent all day there just looking and watching in the warm sun but after a few hours, the ship did a 360 degree turn so everyone had a good view and then headed back out to sea. A ship was already there when we got there right beside it and then another was coming in as we were leaving. It’s all very well timed so everyone gets up close and can enjoy the experience. The comedian made fun of people just watching ice melt, well, I could watch this ice melt all day. If I ever get an opportunity just to come back here, I would take it in a second.

Linda went to the Aqua Spa for a manicure and enjoyed that. Tonight was Lobster night. We dressed up in our finest duds and had a delicious lobster dinner. I had our waiter bring me a filet mignon as well and the thing was huge. It was done to perfection but about the size of 2 hockey pucks stacked upon each other. I was stuffed – I almost didn’t eat all my dessert.

The captain warned us of bad weather and to be prepared but nothing came of it. The seas were never very rough.

Woke up to us coming into port at Skagway – A goldrush town from the 1880’s now serving cruiseship tourists. The town is home to about 800 locals but 10,000 people a day during the summer. The town has kept their wild west look and feel. The wooden buildings are now jewelry shops and art shops. Not my kinds of shopping. We left the kids on the ship for the whole day today while we went to town. We docked right at the towns edge so it was only a 10 minute walk to the heart of this 5 block town.

John and Shelly and the girls took a tour of the area in an old 1951 caddy. They enjoyed it. Dad and I took a bus tour up through the white pass Yukon trail to Canada. We were 100 miles away from Whitehorse. Dad and I really liked this tour cause the guide really knew the area and loved his wildlife. We would stop every 10 minutes on this 3 hour tour looking at something. We saw spectacular scenery along with some distant views of mountain goats. He set us all up with binoculars and telescopes to see families of mountains goats on the sides of the mountains.
Back from the tour, Dad and I hit the brewery of course. Had a few pints of Alaskan Ale and then headed down the street and found John and Shelly in another bar hoisting back a few pints. We joined them for some $2 pints and stumbled out of there to return to the ship. We had a really fun day and had just enough drinks to be in a really good mood. Another great dinner in the dining room.