Alaskan Cruise, July 2001
We got the deal of the century when I saw that all the cruise
lines 
were discounting their cruises to Alaska. There's a glut of ships
and not enough people. We sailed on the Mercury of Celebrity Cruises which
is a Mega Ship that accommodates 2,000 people. The ship is a floating 4
star hotel and we were very impressed, albeit not having stayed at many 4 star
hotels! We sailed from Seward which is a few hours from Anchorage. Our
itinerary was Hubbard Glacier, Juneau, Skagway, Sitka, Ketchikan and Vancouver.
We started our Alaskan trip by flying to Anchorage where we spent a couple of
nights. The sun doesn't set until 12pm and rises a few hours later so it
never really gets dark. Very weird. Unfortunately we didn't see much
of the sun anyway - it was overcast. There are lots of bike paths around
the bay where Captain Cook first dropped anchor. He was looking for the
North West Passage, hence the name of Turnaround Bay since there was no way
through!
We took a scenic train trip to Seward on the coast where we would pick up our
ship. Again, it was mostly overcast but the scenery was still impressive
from the observation car. We were able to board the ship, have a quick
lunch and then head off on our bikes to the Exit Glacier, 10 miles out of
town. It's called the Exit Glacier because it is retreating and it leaves
behind it a barren, rock strewn land. It was our first and only glacier
that you could walk right up to and touch. The advantage of an overcast
day was that the ice is very blue.
Click on any photo to see it enlarged.
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Russian Orthodox Church, Sitka |
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