ALASKAN CRUISE PICTURES -- 2008

This is only one small portion of the crowd that was waiting to board in Vancouver. Some of the passengers had to wait in this line for over 5 hours. As you can easily see, no one looked as if they were having a lot of fun!!!

We finally got away. Vancouver sure had a beautiful September !!!

We made it under the Lions Gate Bridge with not a lot of height to spare. This ship is 19 stories tall ... HUGE

Of course, the first thing we did on board was to sign up for a wine tasting. Do we look keen????

Pretty spectacular eh??? Even canapes to go with the "special wines" we were going to taste.

"Quelle Surprise" ... these are the wines to taste from the "world famous" Princess Wine Cellars. Note the bottle with the yellow label the fourth on left. Sure enough, it is Wolf Blass Cab. from Australia. They were charging $32.00 for this in the Dining Room. We buy it in Yuma for $6.99 at the Safeway. GEEZE ....

Anyway ... it was fun and here Elsie is checking the Tasting Notes provided.

It started to rain in Ketchikan but we did go for a great walk .. just to walk off last night's dinner, this morning's breakfast ....

"Not So Rain Proof" Elsie hides in a bus shelter ... Does she look a little sheepish???

This is the 4th Cruise Boat today to enter the port. With the rain it looks sort of mysterious. Just how they maneuver this huge boats with no tug boats is really amazing

The obligatory "I was there" Shot

Turn a Negative into a Positive. This sign actually boasts about the amount of rainfall they get.

This little river runs through Ketchikan. You can't see it but there are thousands of salmon trying to spawn here.

Seeing that this was one of the last cruise boats of the Season, everything in al the stores was on sale. T-Shirts that would have cost Grandma $15.00 a month ago can now to be had for $.99. ("My Grandma went to Alaska and all I got was this lousy T Shirt")

This is a fairly large Cruise Boat.

But, compared to the Diamond Princess it is small. These two shots gives an idea just how large this Ship actual is. Note the windows on the top deck. This is where we spent many hours as we made the passage between Alaska and Asia.

We were the first ship to leave. The other three were to leave just after us. Can you imagine the impact of these ships and more like them dropping potential buyers into a tiny town every day during the Cruise Season?

Elsie preparing herself for dinner. You can tell that it is cold outside as the drink is a Rye and Water and not a Gin and Tonic!

This is in Skagway. This tub is BIG

The sun came out and it was actually fun to just walk around. A couple of years ago, we drove from Whitehorse to Skagway so we knew the town fairly well.

1000 feet long and 200 feet wide. 116,000 tons

Another obligatory "I was There" shot

"A Glacier Looking" we shall go.

John Hopkin's Glacier calving

"Nanook of the Frozen North" makes yet another appearance

One ship in to see the Glacier while another is just leaving. A very busy spot.

That is the Flying Bridge so the Captain can see just how close he is to the ice.

All the passengers are lined up on the Port Side railings on all the decks to see the Grand Pacific Glacier. The Captain, being a friendly bloke, waves a cheery Hello

Approaching the Grand Pacific Glacier. Will it Calve just for us?

Slowly we drift toward the ice

Suddenly, a huge CRACK is heard and tons of ice crash down into the water. Not every ship gets to hear and see this calving performance

You can see the ice now floating in the water. Some of those 'burgs' are huge.

Hey, yet another Wine tasting. We sure did get around

Joe by Candlelight .. scary thought eh?

Somehow Elsie looks better in this environment. We are just waiting for the wine tasting to begin.

A Princess Tradition on the last night of each cruise ... "The March of the Baked Alaskas" Here our other waiter, Allan, is part of the procession.

Boom served everybody and then presented Elsie with the remainder of the Huge Baked Alaska. Do you think he got to know us well????

Elsie checking the Room Statement ... Heaven help them if they make an error. And guess what?? They did. Elsie was kind when she went down to the Passenger Desk ... strangely no one died....

The first segment of the Cruise was from Vancouver to Whittier -- the port for Anchorage. Here about 1/2 the ship left and were replaced by people who were going on to Beijing and even Bangkok

This is an old WWII Liberty Ship that they beached, built a wharf around it and made it into a fish Cannery.

For those of us who remember the Vancouver Orpheum Theatre.

Another good walk was had around Kodiak. It is actually a very nice little town, but it was not raining there so ....

The obligatory MacDonalds. No, we did not go into the place ... we thought that the food on board was just a "notch" above ...

Long nights that far north gave us lots of time to sit on the deck after dinner. But it sure as heck was cold!!!!

Elsie's Post Dinner look

Hey ... look a neat sunset shot!!!!

and indeed it was a "neat sunset shot"

Leaving Alaskan waters and beginning our "Crossing" to Asia.