Sea Princess Alaska cruise, 12-22 August 2009, 10 nights from San Francisco return.
We booked this cruise over a year out, but because we were to be a surprise to the group, we were sworn to secrecy. LOL It was hard to not say anything on the cruise addicts roll call forum as the rest of the group were preparing for the sailing.
This was a Duck Crew cruise that grew exponentially! Mama Duck, Mary Ann, did an exceptional job, and Rick, Mum and I thank her so very much for her hard work, generosity and attention to detail. She is truly a TA extrordinaire! :)
Monday 10th August, we were up at 1.30am as we were supposed to be at Cairns airport by 3.45am, 2 hours before our flight to Sydney, then San Francisco. Our flight left on time, and we landed in Sydney around 8.45am, then hung around waiting 3 hours for Mum’s flight from Adelaide; then onto a shuttle bus to the International Terminal. Our 13 ½ hour flight left Sydney at 2pm Monday, and arrived in San Francisco at around 10am Monday!
Dizzy......... LOL
We made it to the Holiday Inn Express where Mary Ann was waiting for us; it was wonderful to see her again. We met a few of the group, then went for a walk around the Fishermans Wharf area. Back at the hotel we met more of the group, it was a great surprise for them to see us there and many hugs were shared. By 3pm we were so tired we headed to our room for a nap, as we didn’t sleep much on the plane. We had dinner at Denny’s, a chat with Suer and Warren, then over to the Hilton to meet Mary Ann and more of the group.
It is STILL Monday! LOL
Finally Tuesday arrived! Hahahaha... We did the tourist thing, of course, and rode the cable car. We couldn’t believe how steep the hills are in San Francisco! Didn’t see any car chases though. Later we took a tram to the Bay Bridge area and wandered around.
More of the group arrived during the day and more hugs were shared. We met some cruise @ddicts who couldn’t sail with us, Lisa63, pizzaboy and Mariposa. So nice to see you. :)
More of the group arrived during the day and more hugs were shared. We met some cruise @ddicts who couldn’t sail with us, Lisa63, pizzaboy and Mariposa. So nice to see you. :)
Wednesday, embarkation day, was finally here! Mary Ann arranged a Duck vehicle to take us all to the ship, and what a hoot that was! She had given us ducky stuff, so we were wearing yellow duck hats and blowing our quackers at people on the street. It was sooooooo funny. Click on photos for a larger view.
Sea Princess sailed away, quacking, under the Golden Gate Bridge in sunshine; the fog had lifted for us. So for the next 10 days we had calm seas and much hilarity. Well, the seas seemed calm to us, or maybe the ship rode the waves very smoothly. I guess anything would feel calm after our crossing of the Tasman Sea late last year.
Our cabin ducks enjoyed the view from the window.
Our first port of call was Ketchikan, Alaska, after a couple of sea days. It was mild and partly cloudy. We walked around town; interesting place. The houses are built up the steep hillsides and looked almost like they were stacked on top of each other. Photo below is Creek Street, Ketchikan.
Next was Juneau. Cool, wet and foggy. We wanted to ride the cable car to the mountain top, but it was too foggy at the top to see the view, so we wandered around town, bought some souvenirs, then visited the Red Dog Saloon where we sampled Alaskan beer.
Third port, Skagway. Cold, wet and windy; we were blown along the wharf towards town! LOL Snow on the mountain tops, quaint wooden buildings and wooden footpaths. We took the White Pass Train at 12.30pm to the top of White Pass. This was a great ride up the mountain; at one point we could see the ship way down below, before climbing even higher. Back at the ship around 4pm.
Scenic cruising Tracy Arm Fjord. Rick and I got up at 5.30am to see the view from the front of the ship. Awesome! Big blue chunks of ice floating all around. Then to Suer and Warren’s aft cabin at 7am to view the glacier. It was cold, but beautiful views here. Waterfalls cascading down the mist shrouded mountainsides; ice and snow at the top, so quiet.
Next stop Victoria, British Columbia (Canada). Mary Ann had arranged a morning bus tour for those of us interested, and the surprise was BSeabob, a Canadian cruise @ddict, who joined us with his DW for this tour, and provided commentary. It was great meeting you Bob and Jude. :) The inner harbour area of the city is beautiful; flower baskets on the lamp posts and buildings, cute little water taxis, fine old architecture............would have liked more time here for sure.
A day at sea, then back to San Francisco to get booted off our “home” :( Our flight wasn’t til 10.40pm, so we walked back to the Holiday Inn Express, dragging our luggage behind us (which the hotel kindly held for us) then did more tourist stuff. Got a bus to the Golden Gate Bridge because Rick wanted to walk across. Mum and I didn’t go far as it was cold and windy, so we waited while Rick crossed, and returned. We went back to the hotel, had lunch at Denny’s, then did some serious hill climbing to Lombard Street, the famous zig zag street. Tourists everywhere! I don’t think I would like to live in that street!
The hotel kindly booked us a shuttle to the airport; our flight left around 11pm Saturday; 14 ½ hours in the air and arrived in Sydney 6am Monday. Sunday didn’t exist! LOL 9am flight to Cairns, arrived around 12.15pm. Back to our Winny at Ann’s place by 2pm. We were very tired by then.
Next was Juneau. Cool, wet and foggy. We wanted to ride the cable car to the mountain top, but it was too foggy at the top to see the view, so we wandered around town, bought some souvenirs, then visited the Red Dog Saloon where we sampled Alaskan beer.
Third port, Skagway. Cold, wet and windy; we were blown along the wharf towards town! LOL Snow on the mountain tops, quaint wooden buildings and wooden footpaths. We took the White Pass Train at 12.30pm to the top of White Pass. This was a great ride up the mountain; at one point we could see the ship way down below, before climbing even higher. Back at the ship around 4pm.
Scenic cruising Tracy Arm Fjord. Rick and I got up at 5.30am to see the view from the front of the ship. Awesome! Big blue chunks of ice floating all around. Then to Suer and Warren’s aft cabin at 7am to view the glacier. It was cold, but beautiful views here. Waterfalls cascading down the mist shrouded mountainsides; ice and snow at the top, so quiet.
Next stop Victoria, British Columbia (Canada). Mary Ann had arranged a morning bus tour for those of us interested, and the surprise was BSeabob, a Canadian cruise @ddict, who joined us with his DW for this tour, and provided commentary. It was great meeting you Bob and Jude. :) The inner harbour area of the city is beautiful; flower baskets on the lamp posts and buildings, cute little water taxis, fine old architecture............would have liked more time here for sure.
A day at sea, then back to San Francisco to get booted off our “home” :( Our flight wasn’t til 10.40pm, so we walked back to the Holiday Inn Express, dragging our luggage behind us (which the hotel kindly held for us) then did more tourist stuff. Got a bus to the Golden Gate Bridge because Rick wanted to walk across. Mum and I didn’t go far as it was cold and windy, so we waited while Rick crossed, and returned. We went back to the hotel, had lunch at Denny’s, then did some serious hill climbing to Lombard Street, the famous zig zag street. Tourists everywhere! I don’t think I would like to live in that street!
The hotel kindly booked us a shuttle to the airport; our flight left around 11pm Saturday; 14 ½ hours in the air and arrived in Sydney 6am Monday. Sunday didn’t exist! LOL 9am flight to Cairns, arrived around 12.15pm. Back to our Winny at Ann’s place by 2pm. We were very tired by then.The Sea Princess is a fine ship, we found it easy to find our way around. The crew were all great, and quacked at us a lot! LOL They seemed to enjoy the duck antics. I am not going to write about food, amenities, entertainment etc. For us, the absolute highlight of this cruise was meeting Mary Ann again, and this wonderful group of people who I have been chatting to on cruise @ddicts forums for almost 7 years. Thanks all of you for your company, chats, laughter and hugs. :) We would endure the long flight to do it again, so watch out, we’ll be back!
Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi
more photos here: http://www.cruise-addicts.com/gallery/browseimages.php?c=3&userid=2561
1 comment:
and it was great meeting you two also. Always great fun to show off our part of the world.
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