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Monday morning we slept in and then realized we needed to get to the photography class if we didn't want to miss it, there was a beginner's and advanced class. I was glad we stayed for the advanced. It was a good refresher on using my DSLR. We then headed to the hot tub on the aft deck, the temp was ok but it was very windy. We did not spend too much time there before heading back to our room to shower and get dressed for the day. We spent time walking around on deck getting pictures in Glacier Bay.

We ate a late lunch at 1:30, we had the taste of Alaska buffett, so that we could try some of the fish we hadn't had before. The smoked salmon and salmon steak were both good, the halibut was ok too. After lunch we went back to our room and took a nap, we had the TV on to the live deck cams. We listened to the park ranger on board talk about the glaciers and wildlife. I got up to go to the deck when we heard her say there was a bear on shore. I was able to get a couple pictures of it, but it was pretty far away so I could not zoom in on it very well. I was using a 300mm zoom. It really showed the scale of how much farther we were from shore than what it looked like and just how enormous the mountains are.

I went back to the room and woke Bob up, we went to the art auction to claim our free artwork for celebrating our anniversary. We then headed out on deck and ended up eating supper at the buffett. We then headed back to our room to get our raffle tickets for the photo raffle. While waiting for the raffle we watched a little bit of the Mentalist show. I was surprised to see that the mentalist performing the show was actually a man we had talked to on board earlier! On our way back to the room we stopped for pictures by the ship photographer. A lady got on the elevator with us, and when Bob stepped back he stepped on my toe and then apologized, the lady assumed we were newlyweds and acted surprised we were celebrating our 10th anniversary. We spent the evening by the terrace pool whale watching and saw a beautiful sunset. We also saw another ship, which we never identified.

At 11pm we went to Skywalker's nightclub for BOGO happy hour during the disco frenzy and did a lot of dancing.

Sunday morning we got up right in time to go to the beginner photography class but it ended up being cancelled, I went to Zumba while Bob headed back to the stateroom for a nap. We ate lunch in the Portofino dining room for lunch where we shared a table with other couples one of which was from Liberal, KS. I had to leave lunch right before dessert because I was late for my hair appointment. I had my hair done for formal night at the Spa while Bob checked out the art auction. The stylist did a good job but was constantly trying to upsell other items the spa offered (thermal suite, teeth whitening, shave, etc.)

We walked around the decks watching the scenery and took pictures of the Hubbard glacier.

We made a small stop in the casino where we each lost $20. For the evening we put our formal wear on, Bob in his suit and me in my long evening gown. (Bob's note: We looked smashing! Good enough that the captain of the ship did a double take as he walked by us in the art gallery. We had some fancy fruity drinks, pretending to know the finer points of art with the art director while holding our pinkies in the air). We had our pictures taken by the photographers and went to the captain's ceremony where there was a champagne waterfall and the captain gave a speech and introduced the other crew members.

We had to wait about 45 minutes to be seated in the Capri dining room, we again shared a table with other couples. After dinner we went to check out the show in the Princess theater, tonights show was Stardust. We stayed for the first few songs but then left and walked out to the Promenade deck to watch the sunset before heading to bed.

I hope it's ok to share this! This is a photobook I just finished last night of our Alaska trip.

I will still post the rest of the trip in this thread though :)

We dropped of our baggage at the cruise port and then returned our rental car to Avis. We were able to board the ship quickly, we went straight to our room (A521, Interior) to unload our carry ons and then headed to the Horizon court to eat. After we ate we set out to explore the ship, we took a tour of the Lotus Spa, the ceramic heated beds felt amazing and I think we both could have sat there all day. We walked around the ship some more and then went back to our room and unpacked our luggage that had shown up to our room. We went to the wheelhouse bar for a drink before the muster drill, which was at 8pm. At 9, the ship was ready to disembark, we sat out by the terrace pool to watch as we debarked. It was too late to go eat supper at the dining room so went to Prego's and got a couple slices of pizza, Age of Adaline was playing on deck 14 for Movies under the Stars. We were both tired and ready to head back to our stateroom so we didn't stay for all of the movie.

We then headed to Anchorage, where we filled up with gas and grabbed a bite to eat. Then we were on our way to Whittier. We stopped at an observation deck to see wildlife, we only saw birds at this stop. The next stop we made was at the wildlife conservation center, where we saw Reindeer, Moose, Bears, and Wood Bison.

We had to wait about 15 minutes to go through the tunnel and get to Whittier.

Saturday morning we ate breakfast at the B&B and then loaded up our luggage. We went to the Iditarod headquarters where we got to meet some of the dogs and watched a very informative 30 minute show about dog mushing. We went to Reflection Lake and took some great pictures.

Really looking forward to following along with your trip report! We head north from Vancouver on the Star in September. Until very recently there had been reports/reviews of practically every other cruise ship in Alaska this season except for the Star. Those are great too, but this one makes it feel like it's really happening!:)

I feel your pain! I couldn't find any reviews on the Star either! Although I found a good one on the Grand I believe, I wish I could remember the blog I saw it on b/c it was really good with lots of pictures :)

I also just got off the Star in Alaska and loved it!

We were on the Southbound Voyage of the Glaciers July 18th-25th on the Star Princess. I have started my trip report and will be adding to it as I sort through all the pictures.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2239384

This morning we were up early since we went to bed so early last night. We made a quick Wal-Mart run (for SD cards, since ours broke) and then came back to the B&B for breakfast. After breakfast we headed out to Hatcher pass & gold mining site. It was cold and rainy and the mueseum didn't open until 11, so we didn't get to go in the museum, but we did do a lot of walking around and looking at the old gold mining sites. We stopped a LOT along the way for photo oppurtunities, the scenery was beautiful and the pictures do not even compare to the real thing.

We had planned to go biking on the coastal trail but since it was rainy most of the day we didn't end up doing this. We drove to the Matanuska glacier instead, on the way there we kept thinking we had missed it because it took us so long to get to it. When we finally did see it we were hungry and found a nearby resturaunt nearby that had views of the glacier, it was the Long Rifle Lounge and their food was great! After we got our bellies full we went down to the glacier and got to walk on it. We had to pay $20 per person to drive through the gate to the glacier. There was a picnic table that had a sign on it saying not to proceed past that point unless accompanied by a guide or experienced in glacier climbing, we went just a little bit past this sign and this is where the glacier started to get slippery.

We went to Anchorage for supper and ate at the snow goose bar and grill, which was expensive and the food wasn't very impressive. We decided to walk along the coastal trail a little bit while we were there but it started to rain after we started down it, so went back to our car and drove to a point of interest along the trail with earthquake info. We drove by the airport and watched a few planes fly over us before heading back to our B&B.

July 16th, 2015

Our plane left KC right on time at 5:45am. We had a layover in Salt Lake City. We then had a layover in Seattle, which we had just barely enough time to make it on the next plane to Anchorage. It was a LONG day of plane rides and then we gained back 3 hours of time due to the time change, we landed in Anchorage at 12:40pm. We picked up our rental car from Avis($$$) and then headed out to find some lunch, we went to the Moose's tooth. It was great pizza, I had the apricot chicken pizza and a raspberry beer because it was recommended to me by someone else and it was delicious.

l;

Just driving down the road everywhere we looked the scenery was beautiful and the pictures just do not do it justice!

We headed to the Garden Gate B&B where we would spend 2 nights before the cruise. The B&B was very nice, we had a big bathroom with double sinks and our room had a bunk bed with queen size bed at the bottom. The girl that helped check us in was very friendly and helpful. We were exhausted from our lack of sleep and long day of traveling. Bob went right to sleep (~5:00 pm) and I stayed awake for a little while watching TV and did get to facetime with our 7 year old daughter Marissa.

Just off the star and there was no photo package offered :( It was $20 for an 8 x 10 and you had to buy the print to get a digital copy of it added to a flash drive for $15, then each additional image on the drive was $10.

I will be updating with lots of pictures soon as we get settled back into our routine at home :)

My husband (Bob) and I (Nichole) decided a couple years ago that we wanted to do an Alaskan cruise for our 10 year anniversary. I spent so much time planning for it that it's hard to believe it's already come and gone! This was our 2nd cruise. (first one was on Disney with 3 and 5 year old). We did consider Disney for Alaska but had decided we were not bringing the kids, (now 6,7, & 1.5 years old). I knew I would feel way to guilty cruising Disney without the kids and the price was way out of our budget. We decided to do a one way cruise and knew we'd want to arrive at least a day before the cruise started. We decided to do Southbound b/c we preferred 2 days in Alaska vs. Vancouver or Seattle. We were on the July 18th Voyage of the Glaciers July 18-25th.

We made it home at 1:30am this morning to Kansas, we definitely did not miss this heat!

I'm a digital scrapbooker too and I would definitely pay $125 for a thumb drive with all photos. Can anyone tell me about how many pictures are taken for a week long Alaskan cruise?

Is there a chance we could have pictures taken while in port?

I'd also be interested in learning more about the zip lines! We zip lined this weekend and a church camp and really enjoyed it and had a friend tell us we needed to do it in Alaska. I was hoping there would be one that we could book at a pier.

We are staying at Alaska Garden Gate B&B and Cottages in Palmer, AK for $129/night. Found them on hotels.com

DH has paintless dent repair as a 2nd job, during hail season he usually gets a few cars that are big jobs and can bring in around $1500 for a weekends worth of work.

I started a photo booth business as my side job a few years ago and it's starting to take off more, I'm always wanting to put a little more into it so it hasn't exactly helped me save a ton yet, but it's starting to take off.

I also sell crafts, I make wooden blocks, with scrapbook paper and letters mod podged to say whatever ya want. I make a lot of "family is everything" or other similar things and sell them at a couple craft fairs around Christmas time. Although since it's Christmas time a lot of that end up going towards gifts.

Our last cruise was paid for with a combination of tax return and selling a car that we did not need. We now only drive vehicles that we can pay in full at purchase time. Helps that we each live within a mile of work. I go in spurts of following Dave Ramsey too :)

I signed up as my small business & also did the 30 percent pay now discount. Neither worked; all the same price as I've signed up for.

Did you enter the business number when you put in the car rental?

I was able to get a discount through Avis in Anchorage by registering a business account. They have a "Small-Medium business" discounts. I happen to own a photo booth as a side job ;) I was able to get my 2 day rental in Anchorage for 162.76.

I know you can purchase casino vouchers that can be cashed, but I was wondering if you can use cash in the casino?

I was wondering about port arrival time too, will it be assigned or is it more of a first come first serve to board the ship?

Have you thought about posting to your roll call to find someone with similar interests and flight time?

That's a good thought! Our roll call has not been real busy yet, but when I checked into rental from Avis for July 16th-18th with p/u in anchorage and drop off in Whittier it came to $296 for an economy car so I think I'll go ahead and get it booked! Thanks for all the help :)

I think by the time we rent the car for the round trip plus add the cost of motor coach or train that we're spending just as much, so we'll just rent from Avis. (Although the train would be a cool experience :))

Is a is the only car rental service in Whittier? We want to rent a car for the 2 days we'll be in Anchorage and then be able to drop it off in Whittier before boarding the ship.