Vancouver, Tahitian Princess, and Ketchikan Alaska

Vancouver, Tahitian Princess, and Ketchikan (Days 11, 12, Lucky 13, and 14)

Josh and I spent the evening walking along the waterfront of beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia. We watched seaplanes take off and land, we saw some cool looking houseboats, and ate some Chinese food for dinner. We will explore the city some more when we return after the cruise.

The next day we woke up, went to the gym (I know it is hard to believe), ate breakfast, and eagerly awaited the arrival of Stacy and Bobby. Together we will be embarking on a 14 day cruise aboard Princess Cruise Lines Tahitian Princess to Alaska. When they arrived at the hotel, we had a quick welcome reunion and a drink to celebrate the journey and adventure that awaited us.

Tahitian Princess is a small ship that holds less than 700 passengers. The Tahitian Princess was built in 1999, has 11 decks and weighs 32,277 tons. I’m sure the four of us will fit right in and just blend with the crowd! Ha! When we arrived to our stateroom we were greeted by two harbor seals swimming just below our balconies. This Alaskan adventure is off to a great start!

We spent the first day enjoying the pristine scenery and saw some wild life including whales, seals, various birds, and other things we couldn’t identify. We also participated in many different activities the ship had to offer such as trivia where we met Bill a fisherman from Canada, learned about wildlife from a naturalist who taught us Orcas eat Moose’s, attended a port lecture for shopping where we got some free stuff, and attended an art auction where Stacy and Bob won a poster.

This evening also sported our first formal night. We all dressed up in our finest threads, met the captain, had a great dinner, and partied the night away. We lucked out tremendously at dinner because we are sitting with a newlywed couple from Australia. Jeff and Kim proved to be a pair of crazy crocs from down under so everybody got along just fine. I can only imagine what they thought of us! After a lovely welcome aboard show, gambling was also on our list of things to do. Most of us came out ahead tonight except for Josh who took one for the team. We ended the evening with some dancing in the night club. Who would have thought that Table #9 from dinner would be the only group on the dance floor! Holla!

Our first port of call was the quaint town of Ketchikan Alaska. Ketchikan is known by many names. Born and raised on the salmon industry, the town has earned the title, “Salmon Capital of the World”. Many people from Alaska also refer to Ketchikan as the state’s rain capital. Ketchikan has around 162 inches of precipitation annually. Ketchikan is a beautiful town which has unfortunately been invaded by many of the common chain variety stores you would expect to see in the Caribbean such as Subway, Del Sol, Diamonds International, and “Chico’s Mexican Restaurant; The Best Pizza in Town”. More importantly, the town has managed to maintain a lot of it’s’ natural history and beauty. Josh and I found and toured a local brothel, explored an old western town built along a creek “Creek Street”, and deciphered many totem poles representing different stories. While Josh and I explored the town, Stacy and Bob went to a rainforest and got to see some wildlife and watch a totem pole carving demonstration.

Tomorrow it is off to Glacier Bay National Park for some scenic cruising.

Trivia Question: Who did the Unites States purchase Alaska from and why did they decide to sell it?

If you answer this question on the blog you can receive a lovely prize from our trip!