Woah, what a week this was! We just got back from our Alaskan Cruise with Norwegian Cruise Line and it was absolutely breathtaking. My husband and I have cruised before with Norwegian and we’ve also been to Alaska. Both were that great that we had to do it again. This time, we brought our older boys (8 and 5) and my Mother in Law.
We left the day before our cruise left to spend some time in Seattle. We spent the night at the Alexis Hotel in downtown Seattle and loved our time there. It was super close to Pikes Fish Market (one of the coolest places I’ve ever been). The staff at the hotel was so helpful and friendly. The rooms were incredibly clean and the bathrooms were gorgeous. Our boys received cookies from the hotel to our room that evening and they thought it a little piece of heaven. We also visited the original Starbucks which was fun to be at as well.
Our cruise was 7 nights, stopping in 4 ports and passing by a Glacier one morning. We were on the Norwegian Jewel. Here is what the itinerary looked like:
Day One: Get on the boat in Seattle
Day Two: Sea Day
Day Three: Ketchikan, Alaska
Day Four: Sawyer Glacier/Juneau
Day Five: Skagway
Day Six: Sea Day
Day Seven: Victoria, British Columbia
Our favorite port we HAD been to before was Juneau, Alaska. Here, we went whale watching again (like we did on our previous trip). What a day! This was by far the best day for all of us. We arrived in Juneau at 2:30pm in the afternoon and Alaska Galore Tours was right there when we got off the ship to take us on our excursion. I cannot say enough good things about Alaska Galore Tours & Harv & Marv Whale Watching. They are sister companies and we have used both on different trips. The trip out to the area where we got in the boat to go whale watching was about 30-45 minutes. We hopped on a coach and had a great tour along the way. We saw Bald Eagles, Sea Lions, Whales along the shoreline, and many other wildlife before we even got out of the boat to begin our whale watching tour. Only in Alaska.
Katy & Reese were our guides that day. What a team. They both were so friendly and knew exactly where to take us to see the whales and sea lions. We spent 2 hours with them on the boat, and then an extra hour was spent at Mendenhall Glacier. If you ever are in Alaska, choose to add this on to your whale watching excursion. Definitely worth it!
Our favorite port we HAD NOT been to before was Victoria, Brittish Columbia. Wow, what a city that I had never even considered going to before. Such charm and beauty here. Honestly, I wasn’t really looking forward to stopping here. I had no idea what to expect, what we’d do in a city, and after just being in Alaska all week, what would we possibly want to do here in this big city. I was so wrong. Walking the streets, eating good food, window shopping, and seeing all the city had to offer made it where we want to come back and spend a few days there. It was that great.
Our cruise ended in Vancouver Canada. This was a first for us to get on the ship somewhere and end our cruise somewhere different. It was so neat to explore Vancouver for the day before boarding our train to head back to Seattle that night. P.S. – Vancouver has one of the best Aquarium’s I’ve ever been to. Definitely worth a trip if you’re there.
While on the ship, there were so many activities going on. The staterooms are super clean, updated, and fresh looking. We had a stateroom with a balcony which made it fun to go out and see the mountains just beside you while traveling. It’s so great on an Alaskan cruise because most of the time you aren’t out in the open water. You have mountains and trees on both sides of the boats. Yes, you can see wildlife on the shoreline right from your balcony. Also, another advantage to having a balcony is when you visit the Glaciers (Sawyer Glacier for our instance) you can view it from your balcony and not be on the top deck with every other person on the boat where it’s crowded and congested. Having a balcony provided great picture opportunities while passing by the glacier.
Want to check out more features of our vessel? Click HERE to see it all.
If you ever have the chance to go on an Alaskan cruise, make sure you do. Also, make sure you book with Norwegian Cruise Line. They are one of our favorites and will definitely treat you to a wonderful 7 days!
Have you cruised anywhere before? Where? If not, where would you want to cruise to?
(See what I packed and the brands I partnered with for this cruise HERE)
Disclosure: NCL gave us media options for our purchasing, but all opinions are my own. We will definitely be back to cruise with NCL.
What a great overview of your trip. We looked into this. Thanks for the motivation. Your photos were spectacular.