FFF 2008 Alaska (Juneau)

Juneau

The capital of Alaska, Juneau is only accessible by ship or plane. It has one high school but may expand to two in the future. The Governor's Mansion is located just north of downtown. It is also home to the Alaska Brewing Co. and the Mendenhall Glacier. Myself, Elisa and Amanda went on the Bike & Brew tour. We enjoyed a mildly challenging 9.2 mile bike ride to the Glacier in the brisk Alaskan summer. After the bike ride, we were driven to the Alaska Brewing Co., where I was treated to more samples of Alaska Beer, especially since Amanda disliked her samples, and Elisa doesn't drink beer. Alaska Beer is only available in Alaska and the western United States. Those who don't live in either are truly missing out. Alaska Brewing Co. imports its hops from Czechoslovakia and brews all of its beer in Juneau for export. Kim: I went whale-watching with with Dad and Theresa and saw a pod of humpbacks and a bunch of entertaining sea lions.  This was really fun. (And gave another opportunity for Star Trek references, but our ship wasn't Klingon :)

[caption id="attachment_60" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Mike & Elisa at the Mendenhall Glacier."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_61" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="A not-quite-action shot of the pod of whales"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_62" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Kim & Dad thought the whales were cool"][/caption]

FFF 2008 Alaska (Ketchikan)

Ketchikan

Kim & I enjoyed a float plane tour that took us around the surrounding misty fjords that surround Ketchikan. For those that don't know, fjords are deep channels cut by glacier ice that have since turned into steep mountain sides. Our float plane pilot was fairly young, so he still enjoyed giving tours. The fjords were not so misty that day and we were able to take a little detour into Humpback Lake, which was home to several private chalets that are only accessible by float plane.

[caption id="attachment_50" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Misty Fjords Float Plane"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_51" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Kim & Mike down by the waterfall."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_52" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Kim at Lake Humpback"][/caption]

After the tour we walked around downtown Ketchikan. Although best known as the Salmon Capitol of the World, Ketchikan is mostly built around tourism. Many jewelry retailers set up shop in Alaska to take advantage of the cruise line passengers that come through there. Celebrity cruise lines also hock jewelry on the ship, and partner with the on shore shops to convince wealthy, aging travelers to buy as much jewelry as possible. The also trade a lot on their local history, including the Native culture. They did have a fairly comfortable local restaurant, where Kim sampled the clam chowder, and I sampled beers from the Alaska Brewing Co.

Elisa and the girls did a zipline canopy tour, and Russ and the boys enjoyed a morning crab feast and the lumberjack show.

FFF 2008 Alaska (The Cruise)

Cruise Ship

We sailed on the Celebrity Millennium ship for a 7 night Northward Bound trip up the Alaska Coast. The ship has capacity for 2,000 guests, and has almost as many employees working on the ship. It is hard to describe how large the ship is without seeing it in person. Despite its size, we never felt cramped on the ship, nor ever felt lost in its extensive interiors. The ship had two formal dining rooms, many smaller cafes, a full buffet restaurant, and several clubs and lounges. For entertainment, the ship also housed a performance theater, casino, several musical and comic acts, and a DJ. The ship also had a full fitness center and beauty spa. Each day had a full schedule of activities taking place on the ship.

The Stateroom

The rooms were occupied in pairs: The parents in a stateroom suite, and the children in regular staterooms. The boy and girl siblings bunked together. The staterooms were arranged very efficiently, but still felt mostly spacious. Each stateroom was on the exterior of the ship, so balconies were included. Each room was assigned its own butler and attendent. Our butler, Rahm, was from Bombay, India. Every day we got fresh fruit in the room, and every afternoon there was high tea. The TV chanel selection was poor, with the only entertainment coming from a French dubbing of Talladega Nights. (Kim: I also watched some of the endless Law & Order repeats - just like home!) The parents curiously had a VCR and compact CD stereo in the room (but no DVD player), along with an off-brand flat-screen TV. The cruise line wants you to spend as little time in your room as possible.

Dining

Food was included with the purchase of stateroom. The cruise was always generous in its portions. Full buffet breakfast and lunch, 5 course meal at dinner. They were more stingy with drinks. One had to purchase a $35 sticker to receive unlimited refills on pop, and they became more stingy as the tour went on. Alcohol was fixed at downtown prices, although they did feature a generous 4-shot martini in their lounge after hours. Also, they prohibited guests from bringing their own liquor on board. Any alcohol purchases made off-shore were checked until the end of the cruise. We were assigned to the same table at dinner every evening, and had the same waiter each time, a gentlemen by the name of Gabriel, who hailed from Cartagena, Columbia. It was during dinner that we had to give our family updates, mostly without incident.

Spa

Two of the Blackwells (unnamed to protect the innocent) went for several sessions of acupuncture. One Blackwell went for a round of acupuncture and was advised to remove her belly ring as it was disrupting the flow of her chi. Kim and I were treated to a couples massage by two friendly Filipino women. Kim: That was very, very nice.  I never had a massage before so I wasn't sure how it would go, and this was a "pregnancy" massage so I couldn't lay on my stomach.  But it rocked.  I did say no to purchasing the absurdly overpriced lotion at the end, but I'm going to look it up next time I'm at Bath & Body Works because it was admittedly pretty nice.

Tours

We were treated to several perks as members of the Captain's Club (probably tied to the amount of money spent).

[caption id="attachment_24" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Dinner with Port Engineer Kosta."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_25" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Kim and the Chief Engineer"][/caption]

We received a tour of both the Engineering Room and the Bridge.

[caption id="attachment_33" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Mike checking the waves from the bridge."][/caption]

Kim: Mike tried to get me to pose on the bridge like I was on Star Trek.  Unfortunately, I couldn't cut it with my acting so there aren't any pictures of this.  I still thought it was cool to be on the bridge, though.  I also thought it was interesting to see the Greek crew had St. Nicholas icons in the engine room and bridge.  Good for them!