CRUISING

Finally. You'll now find a selection of the pix I took while on my Alaska cruise with my friend Christine at the beginning of June. Trying to find time to get them sorted, tweaked and then loaded onto Flickr seemed to take forever. But they're there now. You know where to go: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26205675@N07/

The cruise left Vancouver on Sunday, May 30th and returned to Vancouver the following Sunday. A cruise that was just long enough to get an idea of what cruising was all about. Minus the tropical temperatures, of course. Our itinerary aboard the Celebrity cruise line's Mercury included Icy Strait Point, Hubbard Glacier, Juneau and Ketchikan. The latter two were pretty much your typical tourist towns; Chris and I tended, at those ports, to just get off the ship, walk around a bit and then repair to the local bar to raise a pint or two of the local brew. Then it was back on board, and off we would sail again. Once we were out of port, we'd generally hit the casino off and on throughout the day, playing the penny slots. It's amazing how far twenty bucks will go when you're playing the penny slots. Hours of entertainment, if you're so inclined. We took in a couple of the nightly entertainment shows; the singers and dancers in these productions are outstanding.

And, of course, the food was great. I THINK I managed not to pack on any pounds, but it was a struggle not to over-indulge! We also spent a fair bit of time at the martini bar, first working our way through a shared, nightly chocolate martini, and then finally a "flight" of martinis each one evening—a "flight" consisting of 6 different mini-martinis. A delightful way to get thoroughly soused.

Chris is a veteran cruiser on Celebrity, and as a result had obtained Elite status. Many perks come with that status, and we made great use of them. We learned how to properly taste wine, we got the behind-the-scenes tour of the galley, we had a private lounge pretty much all to ourselves every morning and evening (with 2 or 3 staff to look after just us two, for the most part). We also had dinner at the Captain's table the last night at sea—something that was really special.

Another of Chris' Elite perks was that we got to see the Hubbard Glacier from the ship's bridge—a great vantage point that saved one from shivering out on deck to view this amazing natural feature. This was the working bridge—i.e. they were steering the ship to within .8 of a mile to the front of the glacier (legal limit is half a mile, so we were in just about as close as ships were allowed)—so we had to be very, very quiet as the captain and the pilot steered the ship through the ice. Nonetheless, they plied us with mimosas as we watched the spectacular view.

We were doubly lucky regarding the Hubbard Glacier. We were there early in the morning and were able to get close to the glacier. A second cruise ship that followed us into the inlet had to turn back: the currents had changed and the ice pack/ice floes in the inlet was no longer navigable. Timing is everything, apparently.