Friday, May 27
Arrived via Alaska Air to Seattle in the afternoon, left on 10:40 a.m. flight. Took taxi to the hotel,  about ＄45 from SEATAC to the Hampton Inn on 5th and Roy. Room was OK, free wifi and art show and craft fair going on across in the Space Needle park.

Headed to the Space Needle for a gorgeous view and free emailing of your photo to anyone. ＄14.00 admission to the top and a nice restaurant/bar.

Went down, via monorail to the center of town and the short walk to the Pike Place pier area. Lots of cool shops to browse through. Dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, not a good choice, but we were tired of the walking around.

Sunny weather.

Saturday, May 28
We headed to breakfast, via Yelp recommendation, to the Portage Bay Cafe down on Terry Ave, just a 0.8 mile walk from the hotel. Great food for breakfast.

After breakfast, we did the 10:00 a.m. Seattle duck boat tour located by the Space Needle. A fun little ride, about 90 minutes in length and a cost of about ＄28/each.

We agreed to meet up with Bruce and Linda and cousins Brent and Janice Davenport for dinner. Dinner was at Buca de Beppo down the road (701 9th Avenue North) walking from the hotel. Good stuff.

Cloudy weather, but not too cold.

Sunday, May 29
Quick continental breakfast at the hotel followed by an 11:30 shuttle ride to the embarkation pier for Holland America . We were met with an efficient staff and were onboard in stateroom SA7070 (Rotterdam deck) by 12:15 p.m.

Lunch in the Vista lounge and the afternoon to get the lay of the ship. We were all located next to each other in rooms 7068, 7070 (ours) and 7072. We were able to open the verandas among all 3 rooms so that we could have an great 270 degree view on the deck!

Dinner seating in the Vista Dining Room was fixed for us at 5:30 p.m. and tonight’s feature was prime rib. The end cuts were a little too done, but my “medium” was quite good.

Cloudy weather, a little colder.

Monday, May 30
Day at Sea to get to the Glacier Bay. The boat travels about 20 knots and the seas in the morning prior to entering the fjords was a little rough. In the morning, we went to the Culinary Center in the Queen’s lounge to watch the head chef share secrets of creme brulee and lobster salad. Today’s afternoon activity was wine tasting at 2:00 p.m. Linda. Bruce and Sandy and I had a good time with our wine steward. The ＄15 price for 4 tastings was a great deal!

Tonight was the 1st formal meal, sport jacket required in the Pinnacle Grill. Sandy had the lobster and I had the New York strip with peppercorn sauce. Dessert was the creme brulee sampler of chocolate, coffee and creme.

Formal night requires either a jacket or tie, but not necessarily both. I had a hawaiian shirt and jacket, a little weird, but oh well.

Cold and windy, seas a little rough.

Tuesday, May 31
Today, we motored to Glacier Bay, picking up the ranger/naturalist on the way in Icy Straits. Very cool glaciers, like Reid and Marjorie and Grand Pacific.

Dinner was in the Vista dining room.

Sunny and warm, incredible weather day.

Wednesday, June 1
We motored after Glacier Bay to Juneau all night. We arrived about 7:00 a.m. and our tour guide from Gastineau Guides was Dave for our photo whales and trails adventure. The whales were a little uncooperative, the seas a little cool and the trail hike a little lame.

Probably a float or helicopter adventure would have been a better deal to see the Mendenhall glacier. Beer and relaxing at the Hanger on the Wharf by the seaplane base was cool. We tried for a helicopter flyover but the price was ＄200/each, a little steep. Later that afternoon, the float planes with de Havilland Otters would have been a blast but they were sold out. Oh well, lesson learned!

I couldn’t face another Vista dining room meal, so Sandy and I headed to the Lido for a salad bar dinner. It was OK, but the rest of our party reported that the Vista meal was actually pretty good.

Sunny and warm too!

Thursday, June 2
Thursday was Sitka, again arriving in the morning, but this time by water taxi. There is no dock big enough for the ship, so life boats are used to shuttle people off the boat. Sitka is a great little town. We did St. Michael’s Cathedral, and the Totem Bight tour. It was a bust, the town is so small, you can just walk and see everything yourself. There is a free shuttle from the boat dock to the center of town. Next time, skip the tours. We had a hot dog lunch from a local street vendor. You probably get the gist that the meals on board are NOT the hit of the parade.

We couldn’t face another trip to the Vista Lounge … so the ladies cooked up a room service dinner from the Vista dining menu. You can order from the Neptune lounge concierge any menu from any restaurant, a good thing to remember. That Neptune lounge perk for being in a Deluxe Veranda suite on the 7th floor is awesome. We get free concierge service, the Neptune lounge itself with fresh ground coffee and snacks, free laundry, pressing and dry cleaning and ability for first disembarkation at ports. The Pinnacle Grill, only open for lunch and dinner via reservations is also open to 7th floor guests for breakfast. Worth the upgrade? For us it was.

We had to re-board Sitka about 4:30 p.m. After the tour, we did some last minute shopping and walked around looking at all the bald eagles in town. That was my highlight of the trip, they are ALL over in the wild!

Sunny and warm 3!

Friday, June 3

Ketchikan room service and cereal for breakfast. Got off the ship and did the Saxman Village tour and Lumberjack show . We arrived at 7:00 a.m. and had to reboard by 12:30 p.m.

We skipped out on the lumberjack show, just couldn’t do that and the shopping. Cool picture with Sasquatch.

Lunch was at the Holy Halibut restaurant on Creek Street, we had the halibut fish and chips, they were quite good. Ketchikan is a cool little town, we wish we had more time!

The afternoon premier wine tasting at 2:00 p.m. was OK, the first tasting on Monday was much better. The premier was ＄35/each and the initial tasting was ＄15/each.

The afternoon was spent relaxing and playing Farkle with the Bott’s and Davenport’s.

Dinner was at the Vista Grill, Friday night being Surf and Turf. The turf was all of 3 ounces but the lobster was about 6 ounces and prepared quite nicely.

Early morning clouds that burned off to clear weather in the afternoon.

Saturday, June 4

Today we spend our last day on board cruIsing back to Victoria and tomorrow, Seattle. Breakfast was at the Pinnacle Grill with pancakes and yogurt parfait.

We checked out the last minute photos for purchase, lunch at the Lido restaurant (by now, its pretty gross) and our last dinner in the Vista Dining Room. We ordered  the 5-bottle wine package before boarding and ended up not quite drinking theme all. We had the last one for dinner and by then I wasn’t feeling too well. Something at lunch did not agree with me, I think the panini sandwich.

We cruised to Victoria arriving about 7:00 p.m.. We had no schedule or tour to follow. The ship left at 11:30 p.m. for our early morning arrival in Seattle at 5:00 a.m.

Sunny and clear with whale sightings on the way to Victoria from the ship.

Sunday, June 5

Got up early, ready to go with luggage placed outside last night by 1:00 a.m. We have expedited luggage disembarkation and a direct trip to the airport. Arrived at 8:45 a.m. and we just had to sit and wait. The luggage was transported directly to the airport, we did not have to deal with taking it off the ship and transporting it to the shuttle, it got magically checked in all the way to ONT, a great deal for ＄20 per bag!

Flight was on time to Ontario, leaving at 2:15 p.m. or so. Luggage followed us and all was well.

A great trip!