Review: Last Call for Alaska! Norwegian Pearl- Sept 22-29, 2013 (SEA-VAN) w/ Photos!

[deladypilot]

Great review. We love Alaska so it is always fun to see the photos others took on their cruise

[rnargo]

At Sea: Glacier Bay

 

What a magnificent, awe-inspiring place!

 

Even after a late night at the Norwegian White Hot Party, we did not want to miss a moment of Glacier Bay. My friend and I woke up about 7:00am. When I stepped out on our balcony, I saw an amazing sight. Clouds were doing things I had never seen before. It was literally like I had a painting in front of me. We were heading into the heart of Glacier Bay.

 

Cruising toward John Hopkins Glacier, we saw snow capped mountains, lone standing trees, waterfalls, icebergs, and other massive glaciers coming down from the mountains surrounding us. We were traveling on a huge cruise ship with more than 2,000 passengers, and yet there was an immense silence as we cruised through this glacier fed body of water. The sediment from these glaciers give the water a milky appearance. Sometimes it appeared turquoise, other times it appeared green. It certainly added to the magical appearance of the views in front of me.

 

We slowly, and quietly made our way up to the base of John Hopkins Glacier. The sun had decided to break through and shine on the icebergs that filled that portion of the bay. There were a few seals making their home in the area. Some sunning themselves on icebergs. Another harbor seal was swimming along looking up at us.

 

Once in awhile the silence was interrupted by a huge, thunderous boom. You could hear the glacier cracking. Several times we got to watch the calving process taking place, as ice would break off of the massive glacier and fall into the milky, green waters below. The ice breaking off ranged greatly in size, from small pieces to very large chunks. Every time the ice fell, you could hear a collective gasp from the passengers on board the Pearl.

 

After a couple of gradual spins, we slowly left John Hopkins Glacier behind. The icebergs continued to shine in the sun. Some of the mountain peaks that had be hiding in those magnificent clouds earlier in the day were now visible. For the rest of the day, we felt like we had been in some dream. Even now I cannot believe what I witnessed that day. It is one of the places in the world that has to be seen to be believed.

 

If you have the the opportunity to take an Alaskan Cruise with Glacier Bay on the itinerary, do it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rnargo]

At Sea: Glacier Bay (cont'd)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rnargo]

At Sea: Glacier Bay (cont'd)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rnargo]

At Sea: Glacier Bay (cont'd)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tradewinds traveler]

Awesome photos.

[rnargo]

Port: Ketchikan

 

We arrived in Ketchikan early in the morning. Our luck with great weather ran out. It rained on and off throughout the day. Luckily the hard, steady rain decided to hold off until we pushed off the dock that afternoon.

 

After breakfast we headed ashore. We did not have any particular plans for the day. We decided to just to walk around and enjoy the town. Ketchikan ended up being my favorite of the three Alaskan towns.

 

We immediately headed for Creek Street. What a cute area! The creek was filled will salmon spawning. Also enjoying the salmon were several Harbor Seals. Talk about a buffet! Every so often you would see the salmon jumping out of the water trying to get out of the way, while the predator seal closed in on it. It made for quite the show.

 

There are some lovely shops that make their home in the Creek Street area. You can find things there that you don't see in all of the other tourist shops, including many handmade items. My traveling companion bought a beautiful, deep turquoise bottle dating back to the Gold Rush era. The shopkeeper told us that the owner goes to estate sales to find many of these bottles. What an unusual souvenir she has from our time in Alaska!

 

After Creek Street we headed to a few more souvenir shops. With it being the end of the season, there were definitely some good deals to be had. Another shop we went to was Ketchicandies. One of my friends from the ship talked a lot about this place. She had spend a month in Ketchikan several years ago and loved getting chocolate from this shop. What they are known for is chocolate covered Oreos. We definitely made a stop there! After purchasing some chocolate, we slowly made our way back to the Pearl. It was almost time to push off the dock.

 

Before leaving they announced on the PA that we were waiting for a couple of missing passengers. I never saw anyone running onto the ship. At our scheduled departure time of 130pm, we departed Ketchikan. About an hour or so after our departure, some passengers saw luggage being transferred to another boat that had pulled along side. They were theorizing that it might belong to the passengers that missed the boat. Has anyone else seen that happen? If that is indeed what happened, what a sad end to their vacation!

 

We started steaming southbound...out of Alaskan waters. It was so hard to leave such a beautiful place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rnargo]

Port: Ketchikan (cont'd)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jdvmd]

Great comments and pictures! Thanks!

[jessicas mom]

What great pictures! I haven't even looked at mine yet :o. This was such a beautiful cruise, I can't wait to visit Alaska again. I agree that Ketchikan was the best stop...so quaint and scenic. The salmon at Creek Street were amazing, although I will forever have an image of a seal ripping a salmon apart engraved in my mind...:eek:....just another quirk of Alaska!

 

We did the first train ride in Skagway, since we reserved an all-day train/van excursion. Wow...what a great tour! No problems with visibility. So cool that you got to see the "initiation" dip in the water...that must have been fun.

 

I envy you, living in Seattle. What a great city...so much to see and do, and such interesting people. Not to mention that you don't have to fly cross-country to cruise Alaska again :rolleyes:.

[alrichards4003]

Great pictures. We are doing this same trip, at the same time next year. The weather looks cold, but we are from Florida so anything below 68 is cold.

[pcreek]

Your photos are incredible! Thanks so much for sharing!!:D