Day Seven in Alaska

Thursday, August 07, 2008
Day Seven

Today was our last day on land in Alaska. We docked early in the town of Ketchikan and had to wake up at 5:30 to be able to make it for our 7:00 excursion. Of all the mornings on this vacation, today was the toughest one to wake up for. Neither of us were moving very quickly or saying much as we stumbled thru a quick breakfast before heading to a bus outside of the ship. To make matters worse, there seemed to be confusion about which bus we were supposed to be on, and our bus driver looked like he was about 12 years old. It was also cold and very gray, and the dock was wet from a recent rain storm. We thought that this would finally be the day that our good weather fortune would change. After a 30 minute bus ride we finally started to wake up a bit as we arrived at our destination – a kayaking trip around the Eagle Islands. We geared up with our life vests and “skirts” (to keep the water out of the kayak) and all got into our kayaks. They were two-person kayaks, and Tim joked that since we were both so tired, we would end up arguing the whole time rather than coordinating our paddle strokes like we were supposed to. But once we got out to sea, we ended up doing really well for two people who have little kayaking experience. The best part of course was that we didn’t capsize! But even if we had, the water was warm and the weather – which had been so bleak earlier in the morning – was perfectly clear and sunny. The guides, just like all the crew members on the ship, thanked us for “bringing” the great weather this week after such a rainy summer. We have been SO blessed with this weather from what we have been hearing.

Our guides led us around the islands and encouraged us to paddle close to the shore in order to see more wildlife. We got to see (and even hold) starfish, encountered a few jellyfish, and watched a mama eagle diligently protect her nest. The water was so clear that you could see several feet down. Our guides were cool. One of them was really bold. He hit on one of the girls there right in front of her dad! That takes some guts. By the time we finished kayaking and got back to the ship, we only had about an hour left in port. We hurried back to our room to unload our layers of clothing (because it had warmed up so much) and dashed into Ketchikan to do some quick shopping. We bypassed all the Princess stores near the dock and headed back into a neat little area called Creek Street. We really wanted to try reindeer hot dogs (which we had read about prior to the trip), but the place that sold them had closed down, so we didn’t get to eat Rudolph. We were really disappointed and we about to head back to the ship, but then we discovered this little boutique with some cool homemade items. We bought some gifts there. It was nice to get something unique from Alaska as opposed to all the junk jewelry and trinkets that Princess sells up here and then ships down to the Caribbean for the winter season. Although, the young girl who worked at the store was a little too amused by Tim’s “swim for your life” fish t-shirt. Apparently there is not much to do when you work in a boutique in Ketchikan! Back on the ship, we just chilled for a while. Unfortunately we relaxed a bit too long and missed the “dessert extravaganza” they had up on the top deck. Oh well, we have eaten enough dessert on this trip anyway. We decided to go for a quick swim instead. Although it was freezing outside, the water was nice and toasty. After our swim we watched a movie in the theater called “Maid of Honor”. It starred Patrick Dempsey and was about this guy whose best friend (a female) asked him to be the maid of honor in her wedding. Of course he falls in love with her, decides to steal her from the groom, and well – the rest is fairly predictable. We still enjoyed it.

Tonight was the second formal night on the ship. We got dressed up and headed to dinner for some succulent lobster tail. We sat with a couple from Phoenix. We were somewhat apprehensive about sitting with them (usually it’s three couples instead of just two, and they seemed WAY older than us), but as we got to talking, we found them to be really pleasant and above all, very easy to talk to. It may have been our nicest meal yet. [Tim’s note] I really wasn’t excited about eating with other people before we came on this ship. I normally hate making idle chit-chat with people I know I am never going to see again, but I have to say that I have actually really enjoyed doing just that on this trip. Maybe it’s a boat thing.

After dinner we were determined to stay up way past our normal bed time in order to make the champagne waterfall event at 11:15pm. It’s a big party where the staff of the ship builds a giant pyramid of 700+ champagne glasses, and from what we had been hearing, it was a can’t-miss good time. We knew if we went back to the room, we would pass out quickly. So in order to stay awake, we hit several activities. First we went to see another comedian. Some of his jokes were a little dated (Michael Jackson, Prince, etc), but overall he was made us laugh a lot. We then did “Seinfeld Trivia” in the Vista Lounge. We did pretty well in that contest, but we missed some of the harder questions (who would ever remember that George’s middle name was Louis?!). That was followed by “Movie Poster Trivia”, where they showed you a movie poster but covered up the title of the film. We did really well at that, getting 36 out of 40 correct. However, it wasn’t good enough to win as another team somehow got 39 out of 40! This was one time when we wish we had our friend Dave Cable with us. He would have gotten those other 4 for sure.

It didn’t matter though. Our goal was to stay awake until 11:15, and the mission was accomplished. We headed over to the atrium for the waterfall party. It was really cool. Everyone stood on the balconies around the spiral staircases in the atrium (think the last shot in Titanic) and threw streamers all over the room as the staff filled the champagne pyramid. We danced and drank some champagne until after midnight when we finally headed back to our room for a good night’s sleep.

Side note: We kept seeing this guy with a white beard almost everywhere we went on the cruise. It was almost like he was following us! Finally, we got a good picture of him. Check out the suspicious looking guy in the center of this picture.