August 11th, 2003 yoshers
So I have been asked how my cruise to Alaska was…so here is the answer.
We actually began the vacation with a three day stop in Vancouver to see Shareena’s cousin and her husband, Evin and Marcel. We had a wonderful time shopping nearby their house at Kit’s, shopping at Granville Island (great food markets, btw), walking along the ocean, eating various kinds of foods (including pretty good Dim Sum) and having a generally good time in a beautiful city. Of course, Shareena was so impressed by it that she was thinking of living in Vancouver…then I reminded her that the sunny days in which we enjoyed Vancouver happen less often than the normal rainy weather of the Northwest.
Shareena and I went aboard our cruise ship, the Mercury of Celebrity Cruises, on the 20th of June. The food was wonderful, whether it was the breakfast and lunch buffet, the sushi buffet before dinner, the nice sit down restaurant with 5 course meals daily for dinner, or even the midnight buffets that we could not quite cram in since we ate so much during the day. In addition, we enjoyed some good (and some bad magic trick) shows, massages (for Shareena), gambling (earnings of $300 for me), and “everything is in” volleyball (the court was surrounded by netting so that the ball would stay on the boat…and everything off the net was “in”).
On our shore excursions to the Alaskan cities of Ketchikan, Juneau and Sitka, we were able to visit many museums and locals that gave us a better sense of the history of Alaska. It was also interesting to learn that there are no roads connecting the various cities of Southeast Alaska…you must ride a ferry (with or without your vehicles) between the cities. Once you arrive in a city, you can then drive within the city (or at most out to the outskirts or nearby sites).
All in all, it was a nice vacation (minus Shareena’s slight sea-sickness from the slow rocking of the boat). The weather throughout was very nice (nary a drop of rain when we were on our shore excursions) and we made the most of it by walking off most of what we ate. We would definitely recommend taking a cruise to Alaska on Celebrity for anyone who wants to relax, have a good time, and especially, be fed very well.
